


We Own the Sky

by Eveningeyes



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: A solid attempt at Fluff, ALL ABOARD THE PAIN TRAIN Y'ALL, ANOTHER SOLID ATTEMPT AT FLUFF, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Attempted Sexual Assault, Author is actually kind of proud of her smut this time, BB-8 is Peter Parker in my mind, Ben Solo does push ups with Maz on his back, Betrayal, Car Chases, Chases, Dancing, Dark!Rey, Droids, Electronic Dragons, Eventual Smut, F/M, Family Man Finn, Finn and Poe are droid dads, Finnpoe - Freeform, Guess the shed reference and you win a gold star, Han Solo drinks chai tea, Hover Cars, Hungry Rey, Influences from Canon, Inspired by Music, Interrogation, Kira - Freeform, Kissing, Lasers, Lightsabers, Loss of Virginity, Near Death Experiences, Outrun AU, POV Alternating, POV Kylo Ren, POV Rey (Star Wars), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Rose and Kaydel are computer engineers, Running Away?, Scavenger Rey, Shed sex lmao, Smut, Someone feed this girl lol, Soooo many of those, Stormpilot, The Force, Train Rides, Training, Verbal Abuse, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), We may die tomorrow so let's bang? sex, author is trying ok, common goals, da da DUN, i guess?, meetings, or is it Synths?, working together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:32:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eveningeyes/pseuds/Eveningeyes
Summary: Rey dreams of escape, of flying for her life in one of those fancy hover cars and hightailing it towards the skyline in a neon flash. It is a bleak fantasy, weighed down by debt until a peculiar circumstance brings her to a dark stranger, who’s offering her exactly what she wants.Kylo Ren dreams of freedom, of letting his past die and starting new. His mission is almost complete, however, the CEO of DroidTech has one more job for him. He wants a girl in the City who does not yet know of her strengths. A simple task, right?A fantasy/outrun/cyberpunk Reylo AU with integrated Star Wars elements





	1. Fly for Your Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wilde_world](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilde_world/gifts).



> Welcome to my first multi-chapter Reylo fic! Woo! This is for Wilde_world, since without her support I would have never had the confidence to write this story :) Please check out her stuff it's AMAZING!!
> 
> Before we begin, there is a moment in this chapter where a character interrogates Unkar Plutt and gets a little... aggressive. It starts at "Before he could continue"... and ends at "The girl. Rey."... if you want to skip it!

                                                          

The songs of dogs barking and sirens blaring danced in the alleyways as Rey dragged her pouch of scrap metal to Unkar Plutt’s shop. Racing hover cars zoomed above her head, causing the hair resting on her shoulders to blow forward. She looked up and watched them blaze in the empty pink horizon, their exhausts painting the sky in cyan blue, hot orange and lavender hues. Lost in her fantasy, she didn’t make way in time as a passerby knocked her hard across the shoulder. Frustrated, she cursed herself and continued dragging her loot towards the shop. Shuffling in and out of the neon lights of the City, she made her way to his dimly lit establishment, the ‘OPEN’ sign faltering and flickering.

She tossed the sack onto the counter with a thud. He barely raised a grimy eye from his data pad before giving his verdict. “Ten credits.”

“What? Last week these were worth fifty credits each!”

“Ferrous metals have dropped in value significantly since last week.”

“But non-ferrous metals are dangerous to gather,” she challenged.

“That’s up to you. Ten credits,” he said as he flicked the coin bag onto the counter. She grabbed at it hungrily and stormed out of the store. As she clambered up the fire escape to the rooftop of the shop, her satchel clanged against the metal bars in an eery melody. She plopped down next to the edge facing the sunset and dangled her legs over the city streets below. Digging her hand into her satchel for her favorite shop’s day old bread, she inhaled the sweet smell of baked wheat and bit into the hardened crust. Satisfied, Rey watched the hover cars waltz across the darkening sky, imagining her escape while ripping off pieces of bread with her teeth. She imagined herself flying for her life in one of those fancy hover cars, leaving all of her debts behind and hightailing it towards the skyline, towards home in a neon flash.

A noise from the rooftop next to her broke her daydream. She turned her head towards the sound, and saw a boy not much younger than her sprinting across the roof with something in hand, followed closely by a seething heavy-set man carrying a remarkably large hammer.

“Get back here you little 8-bit brat!” the man shouted.

“Sorry sir, I can’t seem to process your request. You may have to try something a little more intelligent!” the boy yelled back with a laugh.

Rey shot up in her spot. She scrambled for her only weapon, her trusted staff and began her own sprint towards the two. She knew how many times someone had chased her for stealing a part she desperately needed, and how many times she had wished for someone to rescue her.

“I’m going to turn you into bent metal if you don’t get back here!” the man seethed.

“Bent metal huh? Like I haven’t heard that one before!” the boy chucked as his foot caught on a raised bolt in the roof and knocked him to his side harshly. The angry man, though tired, soon caught up to him and raised his hammer over the now-frightened boy. But before the man could catch his breath, Rey knocked him hard with her staff and he slumped to the ground. She observed the boy below her, dressed in orange and white, and as she stared into his panicked eyes, she saw that their orange glow was somewhat… synthetic.

Her palms sweated as she realized. A Droid. A scrap like that could give her enough money for any hover car of her choosing, let alone a thousand portions from Unkar Plutt. Her fantasy could be real, and she could go home to possibly find her parents. Considering it, she raised her staff above him, only to look into his pleading eyes once more. Inevitably, her heart sank, and she dropped the staff behind her in a swift motion and replaced the threat with her outstretched hand. He popped up joyfully and beamed at her, his electronic irises glistening.

 _He must be young,_ she thought, _to be this naive in the City._

“Thank you very much ma’am,” he bowed in gratitude. “That bugger almost got to me, but not this time, ain’t that right?” he chided at the unconscious lump.

_Very naive._

“Gotta keep this,” he brought a shiny blue drive up to her nose, “Out of dirty hands!”

_Extremely naive._

“Anyway, what’s your name? Mine’s —”

Before he could begin, the low rumble came over them as a shiny black hover car emerged from below the edge of the roof, slick with rain and articulated with neon orange stripes. Rey had never seen a sleeker hover car in her entire life.

“Ah, right on time,” the kid said as he turned around and waved at the pilot, a man with luscious dark hair and a wicked smile. The man hopped onto the rooftop and flashed his smile at Rey.

“Always. Hey who is —“ the pilot’s gaze on Rey was interrupted as he looked at the lump, and then back to the boy with heavy eyes. “BB-8 I _TOLD_ you to keep it stealthy!”

“I did Poe! But the guy kept the drive around his neck, and he had particularly foul breath, and I just so happened to mention it…” BB-8 put a hand on his neck. “And it woke him thats all!”

Poe worked his hand through his dark hair. “Just… get in the car.”

“You aren’t going to tell Finn about this, right?” BB-8’s enthusiasm was replaced with horror.

“You know I might this time, maybe he can get it through your head!” BB-8 scampered to the hover car, defeated. Before he hopped in though, he whipped around ecstatically.

“Oh, wait! I never got your name!” he beamed.

Rey blinked. “Uh, Rey. My name is Rey,” she said too quickly.

“Sorry about the kid, Rey.” Poe rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “Really, thank you.” With that, he turned around to hop into the driver’s side of the hover car. Rey’s internal drive finally kicked in.

“Wait! Who are you?” she pleaded, a little more desperately than she intended.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re the Resistance!” BB-8 cheered.

Poe sighed. He reached in his glove compartment and whipped out a card, completely blank save a black ‘R’ in the center and a number pressed across the bottom. “If you ever need anything,” he said as he pressed the card into her palm. Before she could respond, the hover car shot off into the night in an orange glow. Rey sat at the edge of the rooftop, rubbing the card between her fingers as she watched the orange light fade away into the darkness. She swore that she could hear Poe scolding BB-8 in the distance.

“Isn’t it obvious? Seriously?”

“What?”

 

 

 

*

Hundreds of stories above her, in the penthouse of the DroidTech co. building, Kylo Ren found himself kneeling at the foot of his master.

“Your mission is almost complete. Do you feel it?” Snoke’s dry voice creaked.

“Yes.”

“Soon all those who can wield the Force in the City will be either in our grasp, or under our feet. And then,” his thin fingers gripped the armrests of his embroidered seat. “There will be no one able to stop us.”

Kylo shifted his weight, stinging his knee under his weight on the frigid marble floor.

“Theres one more out there, below in the City. A girl who does not know of her strength yet. I want you to bring her to me.”

“Yes, Master.” Kylo droned. Snoke did not miss the hesitation in his voice.

“Do not disobey me again, Ren,” he threatened.

The words echoed in Kylo’s ear as he left Snoke’s office and paced towards the elevator door. They opened with a delightful chime, and two women clad in dark leather suits stared out at him.

“Ren,” they said in tandem.

“Selah, Nava,” he bowed his head to each of them. Selah had pale skin and bright, blood-colored eyes which were almost as red as her long curls. Her lips were always so blushed that Kylo couldn’t tell if they were naturally that color, or if she continuously applied some sort of pigment to them. She was the bolder of the two, rash and more prone to violence. Nava, on the other hand, acted as her counterpart. A calm and quiet woman with dark skin and cold eyes, she thought analytically and meticulously. Selah sharpened her, while she calmed Selah. Together, the two were a deadly pair.

The three switched places in the elevator, and Kylo heard the girls giggle as they strolled to his master’s office, Selah’s hand returning from the small of Nava’s back once they reached the door. He watched the face of his master brighten as the elevator’s doors shut.

 

 

 

*

The women bowed before their master.

“I’m sending Ren on a mission. He is conflicted, I can sense it. Follow him.” Snoke ordered.

Selah let the corner of her mouth pinch in a slight grin. “With pleasure, Master.”

 

 

 

*

It began to rain as Kylo’s hover car landed outside a rickety scrap shop. Fat drops of water pebbled on its silky black exterior before dripping onto the pavement, revealing oil pools of marigold, violet, and turquoise. As Kylo entered the shop, the musk of unkept carpets and moldy ceiling tiles hit him, and he grimaced as he made his way through the stink to the bell sitting on the front desk. His gloved hand hit the bell impatiently.

“Just a minute,” a groggy, wet voice called. Kylo exhaled sharply. After a few minutes, the shop’s owner waddled out from the back.

“How can I help you?” he said in a lackluster attempt for hospitality.

“There’s a girl who works here. Where is she?”

The owner scoffed. “She doesn’t work for me. She brings things to me. And why the hell should I tell you?”

Kylo’s other gloved hand slammed credits on the counter.

“You’ll tell me anything I need to know.”

“You’re going to need a fatter wallet, boy.”

Kylo’s patience ran thin quickly. He dug into his pocket and slammed another handful of credits on the counter. The owner blinked at the coins wobbling on the glass. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as his gaze flickered outside and landed on Kylo’s ride. He smirked, revealing a set of yellowed teeth.

“That’s a nice hover car out there. Looks new too.” He leaned forward, blowing putrid breath in Kylo’s face. “Why don’t you and I—“

Before he could continue, Kylo grabbed a hold of the owner’s ear and slammed his head on the glass counter, causing it to crack. The owner chocked and gasped in shock.

“The girl.” Kylo growled into his ear.

“Rey, her name is Rey.”

“How did she get here?”

The man just kept sputtering. Kylo pressed his face harder into the glass, causing it to creak and splinter even more.

“Her parents owed me money,” the owner confessed between ragged breaths. “They tried to sell her to me to make up for it.”

Kylo’s thoughts began to knit a story together. “And where are they now?” he hissed.

“Dead. Buried in the Outlands.”

Kylo stared at the man silently, his mind carefully contemplating.

“Are you going to let me go?” the owner pleaded.

Kylo released the man gently, but as he began to catch his breath, Kylo grabbed him by the neck and pushed him hard, exerting the Force through his fingertips. The owner shot backwards and knocked against the wall violently, slumping down in a useless heap. Kylo narrowed his eyes at the heap in disgust and shook off his coat, turning towards the door.

 _The girl. Rey. Where are you now, Rey?_ he thought.

Kylo burst through the door of the shop and climbed into his hover car, his mind racing. As the door slammed back, the flickering ‘OPEN’ sign finally died out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to chat, my main Tumblr is eveningeyes and my writing side blog is eyesofemeraldgreen :) 
> 
> Peter Parker is my main inspiration for BB-8 so there's more snark to come! :)
> 
> Also, the original characters Selah and Nava are from my original fic called Wicked Games. I just love these characters so much that I couldn't NOT use them in this too okay? :) 
> 
> Finally, I have integrated synthwave/electronic style song titles into the chapters, so this chapter we begin our playlist with:  
> 1\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship  
> 2\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> Some songs that will be included in this fic are upbeat, some are dark, some have lyrics and some are just giant collections of electronic noise that fuel me so if you're into that, I hope you enjoy <3


	2. My Only Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn’t know him, she certainly didn’t trust him, but this may have been her only chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Thank you everyone for your lovely comments on the first chapter! I really hope you guys enjoy where the story is going! 
> 
> WARNING! Before we get into Chapter 2, I want to mention that there is a scene in this chapter that is VERY triggering for attempted sexual assault. It begins at "Hey! he called out to his friends" and ends before "She felt the air thicken around her" . If you want to skip it, I'll let you know what happens in the end notes. Thanks for understanding!

                                                             

Rey peeked through broken glass into an abandoned apartment five stories above the sullied City streets. The apartment was small and hollow, and she could smell the musk of sitting dust and still air. It was so different than the City, lacking the immense neon colors and constant chatter of a city never truly at rest. This apartment almost looked serene in comparison, even if it was colorless and dull. She waited for a few minutes, studying the floor plan of the gutted home.

 _Not many exits, other than this one._ She would have to be more careful than usual. She felt the first drops of rain on her forehead and took it as confirmation to continue. Using her foot to kick away the remaining glass, she eased herself through the window. The air was dormant and thick around her as the humidity from the gathering storm wafted in. As she padded across the room, she heard a creaking underneath her foot, and looked down to see a shattered picture frame. She lifted her foot slightly, as pieces of glass dripped from her shoe and hit the floor in high pitched rings. Looking at the frame, her heart sank. A family lay underneath the glass, their smiles genuine and natural. She wondered if that family was as shattered as the glass above them. Her parent’s faces flashed in her mind and her breathing paused.

 _No, Rey. Keep going,_ she told herself. She forced her attention back to the apartment. Someone else clearly had scavenged it before as the valuables, major appliances, and furniture were all gone. She kept searching the empty rooms before finding a furnace tucked in a small closet.

 _They take the fridge, the microwave, and even the T.V. remote but not the furnace?_ she wondered. She shook the thought away. Whoever’s mistake it was, it was the reason why she’d be eating that night. She pulled the metal cover away and laid her eyes on the complex foliage of multi-colored insulated wires. She allowed herself a smile and began to work.

 

 

 

*

It was still raining as Kylo perched over the rooftop, cautiously eyeing the broken window of an abandoned apartment a few feet below. He watched as a small shadow slipped past the window, as swift as a candle being blown out.

 _‘She’s here’_ he typed on the blue glow of a small touchscreen. He then let the data pad fall from his grasp into the misty City below and waited for his mark.

 

 

 

*

_This is going to take ages,_ she thought as she ripped out another wire. She could probably manage extracting the precious copper with a knife but it would take much longer than she’d hoped. Not to mention the ever-present danger that came with randomly ripping out electrical wires. Reaching for a bright red one, she felt a snap of electricity at her fingertips.

“Ouch!” she gasped and instinctively pulled her hand to her mouth. Then she heard a muffling sound in the direction of the other room. She stiffened, eyes wide as she focused her hearing in the direction of the muffling.

_Damn._

The closest exit to her was through the same window from which she came. She bit down on her bottom lip in frustration. The only thing she could do was hide, and snuggled behind a furnace in a small closet was a decent hiding spot, other than the fact that the closet door was swung wide open. She inched forward, placing a palm on the cold floor and leaned onto her knees, and reached for the closet door with the other hand. As she curled her fingers around the edge and pulled the door shut, the most unpleasant creaking noise came from the hinge. She cursed under her breath and returned to her original position, leaving a beam of exposed space between her and the hallway.

“You hear that?” a deep voice echoed from the living room.

“Someone’s here,” a deeper voice replied.

She heard multiple sets of feet clamber around the apartment, in no clear attempt to mask themselves. She watched as a tall figure stepped in front of the closet, showering her in darkness. The figure then walked away, and she exhaled slowly.

Suddenly, the door pulled wide open, and a greasy, towering man cocked his head at her.

“Hey!” he called out to his friends. “It’s a girl! And a pretty one at that,” he sneered as he trudged in and pulled her out of the closet by the arm. “Why don’t we see what you’ve got there huh?”

“No, no, no! Let me GO!” she shrieked and kicked at him as he tossed her in the middle of the living room. She eyed the other men from the ground and reached for her staff as she scrambled to her feet. They crept towards her like starved wolves, and Rey felt her blood chill as adrenaline rushed through her veins, pleading her to leave, to run away into the night. She eyed the window, behind the left thigh of one attacker. She had to make a choice, and fast. Bolt and possibly outrun them, or fight, and less possibly make it out alive.

With a sharp exhale, she bared her teeth and rose to her feet.

Rey heaved her staff against one of the men, the bald one, thrashing him across the knee and knocking him down. The greasy man who found her lunged at her, and she rolled across the floor to evade him. The third man, one with a precisely shaved beard, snarled as he charged her, but she slid under him, ramming her staff between his thighs. He cried out harder and crumpled to the floor.

In between hits and lunges, she noted how strange it was that they were all dressed in suits. The thought delayed her and the bald man knocked her clean against the jaw.

She staggered, surprised by the feeling. The delusion that followed made her miss her opportunity to dodge as the greasy man pushed her on the floor, her staff rolling out far from her reach. The bearded man cracked his knuckles as he rose, and Rey could see what he planned to do to her from the look on his face. From all of their faces, actually. Fear and adrenaline pumped through her as she looked up towards her staff and reached out for it desperately. Her fingers stretched and she grunted, praying if she could just reach her staff and unleash her rage on each of her attackers.

She pleaded under her breath, fingertips buzzing, praying to anyone willing to listen, just as she saw her staff flinch on the floor. She blinked, blaming the sight on the sweat blurring her vision but then again it shifted, more forcefully than just a blow of wind or a shudder of the earth. Then it began to inch towards her. Her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, her mind racing. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she felt the change in the air as each of her attackers were thrown against a splintered apartment wall. She broke her study on her staff to see a shadowy figure towering above her, completely clad in black, with his arm outstretched and his fingers in a slightly curled grip. He never touched her attackers, yet he flung them around the room like toys until they eventually stopped getting back up. When the last of them slumped over, he turned towards her calmly.

She felt the air thicken around her, though she was sure it wasn’t because of the rain. Her savior had a distinguished face with strong, dramatic features, and freckled pale skin embedded with scruff. His fixed stare was haloed by turbulent waves of pillowy dark hair. She felt an incessant need to smooth it.

His eyes were impossibly dark, not empty but intense and deep, like she could fall into their depths and become swallowed in shadow. Her fingers spread on the floor to remind herself that she wasn’t drifting into them.

He bent down on his knee and extended a gloved hand out for her to reach.

 

 

 

*

Her small hand was warm, Kylo could feel it though his glove. She was a skinny, scrappy little thing, covered in fragments of salvaged fabrics and leather. Though covered in grime and sweat, she was delicate, lovely even. He tried to reciprocate her delicacy as he helped her stand, and called her staff to his other hand. She flinched. _Anticipating another attack,_ he supposed, but her face softened as he offered her staff back to her. She snatched it away from him quickly and stole a glance at the staff, her eyes narrowing briefly as if deep in thought. It didn’t last for long however, and soon her widened gaze returned to him and sharpened harshly.

He could have easily reached for the stun-gun stashed behind his belt, or willed her to sleep using the Force, but he felt locked in her gaze, trying to translate the meaning in the broken ovals of hazel blinking back at him. Almost as if they were trying to tell him something, something he should know or should have known his entire life.

 _Stronger than she knows._ Yes, it was true.

 

 

 

*

Their intertwined gazes were shattered by the vigorous thuds of men clamoring up the stairs leading to the apartment.

“You’re in danger. This way.” His voice was scorched honey.

She only realized he was still holding her hand when she felt a tug towards the window. She yanked her hand close with purpose.

“I can take care of myself!”

He practically laughed at her, and suddenly she felt very small.

“If it weren’t for me you’d be dead, or worse. Is that what you call handling yourself?”

“Yes! I was fine! I was about to… to…” she sputtered.

“To _what_?” he spat.

She looked down at her quivering hands, which were still twitching with the remnants of the strange feeling.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know,” she stuttered. The view of her hands began to blur, but as his gloved hand washed over hers, she found the strength to blink the tears away.

“But they do. Because of it, they want to kill you. So unless you want to try your luck with double the men, I suggest you come with me.”

She nodded slightly, her hesitant fingers slowly curling around the cold leather.

They glided through the broken window, their faces struck by the thick humidity of the breaching storm outside. They scampered up the fire escape like alley cats, careful and cautious. Once they reached the rooftop, Rey halted and caught her breath, bending over her knees. Her savior however, continued forward towards the edge, and without any hesitance stepped out into the mist below.

“Wait!” she shrieked. She ran to the edge and searched for him in the thick lilac haze, but it was to no avail.The echos of her own cry drowned in the pouring rain, and Rey was alone again. She held her knees close to her chest as the splattering of raindrops danced in her mind and morphed into the genesis of a soft, deep humming sound.

The humming grew louder and bolder, and as it marched on her eardrums Rey began to recognize the sound. She lifted her eyes to see her savior relaxed and smirking in the driver’s seat of a jet black convertible hover car, freshly coated in dew.

Rey let out what could have been a mix of a sigh and a laugh. He lifted his chin towards the leather seat next to him.

“Get in.”

 

 

 

*

Forget what she had thought before, _this_ was the sleekest hover car she had ever seen. Let alone been in. It practically blended in with the night, save the threatening rumble of its engine and the bright red glow of crimson it left in their wake. Growing comfortable in her seat, she reached out into the wet night air, letting the raindrops sting her skin before being blown off by the resisting air flow around them. They skirted past a forest of towering skyscrapers, past multitudes of busy workers battling boredom in their cubicles. She felt freer than them, freer than herself, and it was the most intoxicating feeling. Beaming, she turned towards the back of the hover car and watched the red wake dissipate into the darkness. Mesmerized, she almost didn’t notice five faintly green dots on the horizon. That, nor how the dots grew rapidly, as if coming closer to them.

“Hey, uh, uhm,” she tapped his broad shoulder lightly.

“Kylo,” he replied, unbothered.

“Right, uh, Kylo, I believe we have company.”

 

 

 

*

_Shit,_ Kylo thought. He was so distracted by watching the skinny girl beside him from the corner of his eye that he almost didn’t notice the surviving thugs gaining on them. The way her hands reached towards the sky, the wisps of her hair flicking around her face, her smile genuine and free, it was hard to keep his eyes on the path in front of them. He growled as he recognized the green dots on the horizon. Evidently, Snoke had paid them well. Reaching one hand back, he rummaged through the back cabin of the hover car as they soared past neon-outlined buildings. The men were now fresh on their tail, each riding their own hover-cycle, dragging green glow behind them like paintbrushes in the sky. As his fingers recognized what he was looking for, Kylo turned to the girl.

“I need you to fly.”

“What?!”

“I. Need. You. To. Fly.”

“I don’t… I mean I… but I’ve never actually-“

“REY!” he roared at her.

“How do you know my name?!”

“I’ll tell you if we survive this but in order to do that you have to fly!”

She paused, contemplating.

“Fine!”

 

 

 

*

Rey climbed over him, careful not to make any instances of awkward touching. They switched in one swift movement, and suddenly she was controlling something that was much more real than the flying simulations she played at the Mos Eisley arcade.

 _IcandothisIcandothisIcandothis,_ repeated in her mind like a mantra. She felt around the dash for the buttons she recognized, and the steering wheel feeling oddly comfortable under her palms. The pull of the speed felt like a second gravity, keeping her pinned to the seat and her extremities full of lead. She acclimatized to the drag of the car as she swerved past skyscrapers and threaded through oncoming traffic. In the rearview mirror, she could see that the thugs were right behind them, creeping up in an aviary formation. She watched helplessly as specks of green light came from them and soared past her in a high pitched hum.

“Well, aren’t you going to _do_ something?” she screeched at the man behind her.

A low drone followed by a series of clicks were his only reply. She glanced back to see Kylo sitting on the top edge of the passenger seat, setting up the angle of a laser rifle on his shoulder. The weapon was stalky with a long obsidian barrel, vein-like wiring and bright red accents. Rey could practically hear the laser inside the weapon growl, as if it were an animal begging to be set free. Kylo peered into an attachment on top.

“What is that? What are you doing?” she fussed.

“What, you don’t trust me sweetheart?” he teased from behind the scope. He exhaled through slightly parted lips, eased his shoulders, and pulled the trigger to send several bright scarlet flashes of crackling laser-fire in the direction of the thugs. He lowered the gun as they flew, turned around and dropped into the seat next to her. From her mirror, Rey saw the thugs slowly fall into the depths of the City, one by one, their green glow swallowed by fog.

He must have been studying her from the passenger side, Rey swore that she could feel his eyes wander over her, her skin heating under their path. She cleared her throat in an effort to regain control of the situation, and herself.

“Where to now?”

He pointed in the direction of a rooftop of a small restaurant nearby, his eyes never parting from her.

She coaxed the hover car onto the roof gently, letting her fingers linger on the steering wheel for as long as she could before getting out. She stepped out of the seat and grazed her fingers over the car as she walked over to his side. He was staring out at the cityscape, which was perfectly encapsulated from this view. Flashes of light flickered in the distance as offices closed and bars opened. The howls of wild dogs and sirens of police cars blanketed them in a constant white noise. Looking at it, Rey felt above it all, like she was a visitor instead of a prisoner. She allowed herself to believe it if only for a moment.

“I can get you what you want,” he said to the horizon.

She turned. “How?” He gestured two fingers up, towards the tallest building in the City.

“The CEO of DroidTech is making new hover cars, a completely new design not meant to be on the market for years called Silencers. They are incredibly fast and practically soundless- perfect for evasion. You could go anywhere.”

She watched the brilliant white light of the DroidTech sign dig into the clouds. Shaking her head, she turned her back on the skyscraper. “I have to stay here.”

“If you’re inquiring about your boss, he’s dead.”

“How…” she started to question before glancing up at Kylo and realizing. Before she could continue, he cut her off.

“Look. What happened tonight will happen again and again until they find you. The only way to survive is to escape. To go somewhere they won’t ever travel. Somewhere like…” He peered at her from the corner of his eye. “The Outlands.”

“The Outlands?” Her parents faces flashed before her eyes.

“Yes.” He turned to her, his dark eyes threatening to swallow her once more. “Rey, I’ll help you.”

She bit her lip. She didn’t know him, she certainly didn’t trust him, but this may have been her only chance. Ignoring all of the voices in her ear telling her to say no, she allowed herself to fall into the murky eyes of the man in front of her.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this chapter!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated (they make my life, actually) but if you want to chat I'm on Tumblr, my writing side blog is eyesofemeraldgreen and my main is eveningeyes :) 
> 
> For those who skipped and need a brief summary of what happened, Rey is attacked by Snoke's thugs while trying to scrap an abandoned apartment. She fights them (and gets a couple good hits in) but is eventually overpowered. During this her staff is knocked out of her reach, and she uses the Force for the first time to try to reach for it. Before any harm can come to her, Kylo saves her and takes care of the thugs. :) 
> 
> Also, this chapter adds a couple songs to the playlist! So now we have:  
> 1\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship  
> 2\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe  
> 3\. Genesis by Justice (an oldie but a goodie)  
> 4\. My Only Chance by The Toxic Avenger (Which I've been OBSESSED with lately)


	3. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When she last had a proper meal he didn’t know, but he assumed it had been too long since she showed no inclination of eating politely. He couldn’t help but stare at her until she felt his eyes and her cheeks flushed. She set her utensils down and wiped the corners of her mouth with her wrist.
> 
> “So, how are we going to do this? What’s the plan?” she mumbled through noodles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome! Thank you everyone for your incredible and kind words about the last chapter! It really warms my heart you have no idea! <3
> 
> That GORGEOUS moodboard you see is by SulaRae! Thank you so much girl! <3 <3 If you haven't checked out her AMAZING fics you are seriously missing out!
> 
> Before we get into Chapter 3 I'd like to point out that there is one particular scene which includes graphic violence, starting at "Two women in dark leather suits..." and ends right before "Sliding out of the back door". I'll include a brief summary if you choose to skip! Thanks!

                                         

 

 

Leia was pondering over her data pad fervently when BB-8 practically pranced to her side and bowed to her, a glimmering blue drive in his outstretched hand.

“Your Grace,” he said, impersonating a high knight. Playing along, she bowed her head and gratefully took the drive then inserted it into her small computer. She cupped his cheek with her hand.

“Such a smart boy,” she praised. He smiled proudly.

Clicking on the drive unveiled dozens of design plan files titled ‘STAR EATER’. She scrolled down to see monstrous prototypes of gigantic lizard-like Droids, equipped with locating devices and pyrotechnics. Snoke was always dramatic with his developments, but this was a little excessive. Not to mention the damage that these things would cause if ever awoken. She opened a video file and felt her pulse pick up speed as she watched enormous jaws snap furiously and spit fire at the camera.

 

Leia knew that DroidTech was a cover for what Snoke was really up to- collecting all of the Force users in the City to his cause under a secret initiative called the First Order. Then, with all of his developed weapons from DroidTech and the Force users on his side, nothing would stand in his way of taking over the City. Yet she wondered what was holding him back, since all of the Force sensitives in the City were either dedicated to him, or dead. A strong surge of pain rolled in her chest, the wound of losing her son as fresh as the day he left. She swallowed the pain before it threatened to peak in her throat. _The only thing that matters now is defeating Snoke and freeing the Synths,_ she told herself.

She downloaded the file and attached it to a communication link.

“R2, I just sent you a file. Scan it for schematics, will you?”

Silver blue hair popped up from behind a row of computers across the room, followed by electric cobalt eyes framed by wide-rimmed glasses.

“Of course, Leia. Right away.”

“Thank you, R2.”

 

 

 

 

*

Finn watched BB-8 entertain Leia from the hall leading to the briefing room. BB-8 was telling her a story, complete with sound effects and hand gestures. Finn squeezed his fist as he leaned up against the wall. He rubbed the knuckle of his thumb across his forehead, desperate to dampen the consequent headache from worrying throughout the night before.

Suddenly, a strong hand clapped his back and Finn jumped forward. He looked behind him to see an amused Poe rubbing his back. Irritated, he shrugged his hand off.

“He could have been scrapped, Poe!” Finn hissed.

Poe shrugged. “He’s young, he’s gotta learn how to fry a chip every once in a while and come back good as new!” He returned his hand and rubbed Finn’s shoulder. “You gotta stop worrying so much, it makes you tense.”

“I’ve got good reason to be tense.” Finn thought of the night where he sneaked out of the DroidTech building with one of their most valuable Droids across his back, the new dawn light threatening to expose them.

Finn had worked in DroidTech’s Synthesis department, where he oversaw Droid manufacturing and behavior establishment. He was assigned to one of the newest models, a male Droid in a part of the BB series. This particular prototype however, the eighth one Finn had to work with, had attention deficiencies and a tendency to overanalyze, sometimes in the form of faulting humor. No matter how Finn tweaked him, BB-8’s core personality would eventually override and he would end up cracking jokes at Finn’s shoes, haircut, or complete inability to have fun. Eventually, though Finn would never admit to it, he grew to enjoy the Droid.

Then, a change in company policy drove him to become curious. After some digging, Finn found the truth behind Snoke’s weapon developments. Mortified, he decided to run and against all good judgement, he couldn’t bear to leave the kid behind for what Snoke was planning. They hid for weeks until Poe found them and brought them to the safety of the Resistance hidden beneath the sidewalks of the City. Months passed, Finn and BB-8 were sworn to the Resistance, and Finn and Poe’s friendship grew into something much more sentimental.

Soon, the three became a family. And now Finn couldn’t bare the thought of losing it.

“I still think we should leave,” he said, watching at BB-8 swivel in his chair.

Poe watched him too, his lips fading into a sharp line. “You know we can’t do that.”

“I don’t know Poe, think about it. The Resistance is too small. We won’t ever be able to take the First Order down! The smart thing to do is run while we still can."

“Look, I know you’re worried. But we belong here! Look at BB-8.” He stretched his hand out towards the boy. “You brought him to us because you believed that he deserved more than becoming one of Snoke’s toys! You know your place, it’s right here, with the Resistance. With me. Look at me.” Poe placed his hands on Finn’s shoulders. “We’re going to take DroidTech down, and free all of the Synths so that they can live without fear. Then we can go wherever we want, as a family.”

“I hope you’re right.”

 

 

 

 

*

Leia eyed BB-8 from her data pad as he spun in his chair. “Quite the trip I imagine?”

BB-8 halted his chair suddenly. His cheeks reddened as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Poe told you, huh?”

Leia watched the blush color spread along his face. _What they can do now that they couldn’t before,_ she thought. She wondered what the new Synths would be capable of in the future.

“I was reckless when I was young, too.” She took his hand in hers. “Making mistakes is the fastest way to learn, but you have to be careful! You’re an agent now, BB-8.”

“Yes Ma’am, I know! I’ll be better next time, I promise!”

She smiled and squeezed his hand before getting back to her data pad. “So, Poe tells me you met a girl?”

“Yeah. She saved me from the nasty guy with halitosis. She was nice. Had a cool staff, too.”

“Oh?” Leia’s smile turned devilish. “Anything particular about this girl?”

“Well, actually,” His electronic irises flickered around and he scooted his chair closer. "Yeah. She had a funny vibe about her. Almost like… another type of reading. Something magnetic, I couldn’t really tell. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

Leia’s eyes widened as her grin faded.

“R2-D2!” she called, her eyes still locked on BB-8’s confused expression.

“Yes, Leia?”

“I need you to send a raven with an urgent message.”

“Promptly.” R2-D2 walked over to the far side of the room and lifted a dark blanket to reveal a small cage. He reached inside and pulled out a slim black-feathered bird. He brought the bird close and grazed his fingers around the side of its head. Suddenly the raven shook to life, its violet synthetic eyes blinking rapidly. “Where shall I send the raven?”

“Find Luke. Tell him to the Resistance needs him.” She watched as BB-8’s confused expression was blanketed with concern. “Immediately.”

 

 

 

 

*

They sat in a dimly lit booth of a cozy diner, almost directly underneath where his hover car was parked. The manager had let them come in right before closing the kitchen since Kylo gestured at paying them well to feed his starving friend. Fifteen minutes later, Kylo found himself perplexed as he watched Rey shovel piles of wet noodles into her mouth, slurping wildly. He was intimidated, impressed, and a bit frightened by her voracity. When she last had a proper meal he didn’t know, but he assumed it had been too long since she showed no inclination of eating politely. He couldn’t help but stare at her until she felt his eyes and her cheeks flushed. She set her utensils down and wiped the corners of her mouth with her wrist.

“So, how are we going to do this? What’s the plan?” she mumbled through noodles.

He spoke coolly. “We get to the DroidTech building, sneak into the penthouse where they keep the newer models, take one of the Silencers, and escape before the light of dawn even breaches the City sky.” He settled into the corner of the booth, relaxing his arm on the table and stretching his long legs over the seat in an attempt to hopefully convince her of his feigned informality.

“It sounds too easy,” she muttered, still chewing.

“It will be easy, the only difficult part is getting there unnoticed.”

She nodded slowly, as if contemplating. Suddenly, her nose crinkled and her eyes began darting around different points of the table, as if her food had suddenly gone sour and she didn’t know how to deal with it. She swallowed laboriously. Once her mouth was clear again, she stared at him, locking him in a hazel embrace.

“Why are you helping me?” she asked slightly, her voice barely disguising her fear. His chest tightened, watching her examine him like that. He was propelled to tell her something good, something that could make her feel better, to bring her back to trusting him. _What harm could a little truth be after all?_ He exhaled sharply, fixed his posture and returned her glance.

“I need to leave the City too. Let my past die and find somewhere new to start again.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story. I—“ he paused, recognizing the shift in the air as the door bell of the diner ringed charmingly. He turned his head slightly. He could hear the synched clicking of their heels on the diner’s sticky linoleum floor.

“We have to leave. Now,” he ordered.

Rey looked at her bowl of noodles and broth yearningly. “But I’m not yet finished!” she whined.

“Rey!” he urged. After stuffing her cheeks with a final load of noodles, she finally acquiesced and shuffled out of the booth.

They snuck out of the diner after Kylo left a very generous tip. _No knowing how much damage they’ll cause,_ he thought.

 

 

 

 

*

Two women in dark leather suits stepped into the diner, the smells of hot broth, sizzling pork and fresh steaming noodles embracing their nostrils. The enticement of food made Selah’s mouth water, but the tantalizing idea of meeting Kylo Ren’s new plaything was far more attractive.

“Sorry, but we’re closed!” The manager called from the back.

“We are meeting friends. Mind if we take a look around for them?” Nava answered pleasantly while running her hand over her long, sleek ponytail.

“Sorry, but no, we are closed. You can come when we open tomorrow,” he repeated dully as he met them at the front desk.

“But we haven’t seen them in ages! Can’t we just take a look around?” Selah insisted. She leaned over the front desk, her scarlet curls falling on the desk counter as she pushed her chest out and locked eyes with the manager. She reached her hand out, barely brushing his fingers as she ran her tongue over where her reddened top lip met her teeth.

“We’ll be good, I promise,” she teased softly. The manager swallowed. Nava rolled her eyes and stalked around the desk, taking his head in her hands and twisting sharply. He crumpled to her feet. Nava crossed her arms and scowled at Selah as she leaned back from the desk and bit her lip.

“Let’s get to work.”

 

 

 

 

*

“Anything?” Selah called as Nava’s heels struck the ground beside the blank faces of late-night cooks. She paced from the kitchen to join Selah at the booth she was studying.

“No,” she reported stoically.

“Shame. I wanted to meet her so badly.”

“You will, in time.”

Selah dipped a pointed finger into the bowl of broth. “Still warm. We must have just missed them.” She then placed her finger in Nava’s mouth as she sucked off the rich salty flavor, both of them snickering in the dim light.

 

 

 

 

*

Sliding out of the back door, Kylo and Rey strode briskly in the plum City night.

“And why can’t we take the car?” Rey protested, silently yearning for another chance to get behind the wheel.

“They know that car. We can’t risk it.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand. If we took the car—“ He stopped and wrapped his gloved hand around her arm tightly.

“I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in, sweetheart,” he seethed. “Those women in there, they are ruthless! They can’t be bargained with, they can’t be reasoned with, they don’t feel pain, or remorse, and they won’t stop, ever, until you are dead!” He relaxed his grip on her arm. “Or worse.”

Her eyes widened as she finally understood the severity of the situation. They narrowed again when she wondered why he cared so much.

“We’ll take the night train. It will take much longer, but it’s safer.” His eyes flickered around them and he began to walk quickly again, practically dragging her by the arm.

“Wait, wait wait!” She tried to slow him, pushing her feet against the pavement. “What about your, um,” she looked around, “your gun?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“What if we need it?”

“We have it.”

“What? That thing was huge how could you possibly— Oh!”

She gasped as he pulled her into a lightless alley. Rey heard the sounds of clicking and shifting of metal. Without warning, a harsh, intense brightness appeared in her hazel eyes. The deep redness licked flames and emitted an arduous scowl, one similar to the sound she heard in Kylo’s sniper rifle yet much more untamed.

Kylo stood proudly with the lightsaber, his chest out and a smirk resting on his face, his eyes shining with crimson reflects. However, his smirk shattered when Rey began to laugh. She became hysterical as the scarlet weapon cackled in the dark.

“I’m sorry, but is that a laser sword? What, are we in some low-budget sci-fi movie now?” she wheezed in between breaths. “I’m really sorry I just…” she choked, barely able to get the words out before laughing more.

He scowled at her and vehemently struck the saber against the corner of a brick wall, the carved portion sliding off easily and splattering on the pavement like dripping paint.

She coughed slightly, trying to suppress her laughter. “Oh.”

He turned the lightsaber off, the crimson cracking enveloped by darkness once more. She heard him reattach the weapon to his belt.

“Let’s go,” he growled.

 

 

 

 

*

Rey shifted in the itchy cyan carpeted seat, her partner looking oddly relieved that the train was so vacant at this time of night. Kylo closed his eyes as Rey watched the City pass by them in the train window. The fleeting neighborhoods seemed so quiet from behind the glass, it made Rey feel like a spectator, turning her stomach over. Soon it made her so uncomfortable that she soon couldn’t bare to even look at the glass, so she studied the train instead. She memorized the safety warnings printed on the plastic seats, the shiny spot on the bald head of a passenger five rows ahead of them, the satisfying way the carpet scraped against the bottom of her shoes. Every once in a while, she would steal a glance at Kylo, who sat motionless in the seat next to her, oddly at peace. They sat in silence together for what felt like hours, when Rey finally mustered up the courage to speak.

“Back in the apartment, you flung those men like toys. How did you do that?”

His eyes slowly opened. “You’ve felt it, haven’t you?” his voice an octave lower than usual.

“Yes,” she confessed, remembering how her staff inched towards her and that strange feeling in her fingertips.

He sighed. “You need a teacher. Someone to show you the ways of the Force.”

“The Force,” she repeated, studying her fingers. “Could you teach me?”

He rubbed his eyes and then exhaled powerfully, lifting his hips from the seat to reach his hand in his back pocket. He then pulled out a small leather-bound notebook and an ink pen. Opening the book to a clean page, he gestured to her. “Watch.” And she did, she watched as the pen lifted in the air, the cap unbuckling itself and the ink tip dancing along the page in decadent swirls, until he had eloquently written her name in his book. It was unusual to see something that belonged to her in such an alluring fashion, and she blushed at the gesture.

“Now, your turn.”

Rey reached out and focused on the pen, willing it to lift itself as she felt the familiar buzzing feeling spread through her fingers. The pen rattled and flinched on the page, and Kylo covered her hand with his. His fingers were soft, yet strong. _When did he take off his gloves?_

“See you’re using the tips of your fingers, and it’s unbalanced. Do that and you may accidentally lodge that pen in my eye. Try using your palm.” He flipped her hand over and grazed the pudgy high points in the middle of her hand. “Keep it balanced, and use your fingers to articulate the movement.”

“I’ll try again.” She centered herself, and felt a warm rush flow out of her palm and wrap itself around the pen, which lifted itself and began dragging the ink along the page. Soon, with the flicking of her fingers, she was scrawling the letters of his name in the book. The entry resembled a child’s writing more than anything else, but she beamed proudly when she finished encircling the ‘O’. Feeling confident, she broke her trance on the pen to smile up at him, only to have the pen crush violently on the paper, a spray of black spatter freckling the page and soiling it in a deep puddle of indigo. Her pride vanished as quickly as it was replaced with horror.

He laughed gently and brought out another pen.

 

 

 

 

*

His book was nearly filled with her elementary scrawls of his name, her name, and simple conversations with one another when she eventually tired, nestling into the padding of his shoulder with a natural smile resting on her face. He looked at them in the reflection of the train window, the residues of streetlights and neon signs passing over their faces, and Kylo barely recognized himself. It was then that he realized how much he yearned to be the man in the window staring back at him, the savior instead of the captor, and how much he longed for this encounter to be genuine. A surge of guilt filled his heart as he remembered his task. _Could he really send her to slaughter?_

He turned into her hair and closed his eyes, allowing himself to sleep with the idea that he wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this chapter <3 As always comments/kudos fuel my soul, and you can talk to me on Tumblr on my main eveningeyes or my writing sideblog eyesofemeraldgreen :)
> 
> I hope you liked the fluffy bit at the end, it was really fun to write! 
> 
> For those who skipped, essentially Selah and Nava (Snoke's other Force-sensitives from the first chapter) try to find Kylo and the "girl" in the diner. Selah tries to seduce the manager, and Nava gets tired of waiting, so she kills him. They then kill the other workers in the restaurant :( and then flirt with one another. Violence and flirting go hand in hand with these two haha!
> 
> We have added 3 songs to our playlist! So now we have:
> 
> 1\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship  
> 2\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe  
> 3\. Genesis by Justice  
> 4\. My Only Chance by The Toxic Avenger  
> 5\. Star Eater by Daniel Deluxe (so so so good)  
> 6\. The Plan by Waveshaper (their new album Lost Shapes is so GOOD!!!)  
> 7\. Night Train by Code Elektro
> 
> Also, I'll be very impressed if anyone noticed the shoutout to a Perturbator song... when Kylo describes Selah and Nava... ;) You'll see next chapter anyway haha <3
> 
> Thank you again! <3


	4. Modern Technology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who stuck out my brief hiatus! My life has gotten pretty busy as of late but I have NOT forgotten about this story and I can't wait to share the rest with you <3
> 
> Your comments are so amazing, I love seeing everyone's reactions and thoughts to the chapters! So THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!
> 
> There's only implied violence in this chapter, so the skippers can breathe for a bit, but next chapter is FULL of action so be warned <3 Speaking of next chapter, it was supposed to be part of this one, but as one chapter it ended up being waaaay too long, so I'm hoping to finish up the next one soon and post it for you guys! Thank you always and never feel ashamed to reach out to me/send me your stories if you write as I will try to read them when I have time and I will most likely love them! <3 <3 <3 Enjoy!

A disheveled man and a golden-haired Synth stood at the edge of the City, peering out into the sand soaked horizon draped by swirling clouds of thick dust. 

“Sir, do you really think that Master Luke will arrive?”

“Well, this is the rendezvous point we always agreed upon. If he’s gonna show, it’s gonna be here.”

“But, Mr. Solo sir, the probability of one man alone surviving in the Outlands are slim to none! Well, there’s the relentless sandstorms, mutated wildlife, not to mention the pools of radioactivity, oh AND the-“

“Shh!” Han cut the Synth off.

Han saw a speck of color flicker in the distance, and he knew.

“Never tell me the odds, C-3PO,” he said as his lips upturned in a devilish grin and he put his hands on his hips triumphantly.

*

Luke observed the crystalline skyscrapers that marked the City. They shot up into the sky like beams of light, declaring the presence of a neon beacon in an ocean of sand. It looked the same as when he fled, all that time ago, but Luke could feel the difference in the Force. The tension was so powerful that upon arrival it attacked Luke’s senses, constricting his throat and burning his eyes. Tugging at his collar, he sensed that whatever was brewing in the City, it would erupt soon.

His scrappy hover bike grumbled underneath him as he closed in on the familiar figures at the City Edge. Heaving his aged limbs over the bike, he saw a greyed friend with a smug smile trudge through the sand to meet him.

Luke wrapped him in an enthusiastic embrace. Han squeezed him back.

“You’ve gotten old!” he said as he smacked the meat of his shoulder with his hand.

“You’re one to talk!” Luke laughed and pulled back so he could see his friend's face. “It’s good to see you, Han. It has been too long.”

“Yes, it has.”

Luke chose his next words very carefully. “Han, has he…?” he started.

Han shook his head softly. Luke tried to search for his answer in the Force, but he found nothing. They stood in the dunes as mineral winds powdered their faces in dust.

“We should get back. Leia’s waiting for you.” Slowly, they turned towards the City, forgetting an offended Synth.

“Master Luke!” protested C-3PO.

Luke turned and winked at the monochromatically dressed Synth, who huffed in return. Then their ancient joints carried them back home.

“We should probably hose you off before seeing Leia, you stink.” Han chuckled. If they had been 10 years younger, Luke would have pushed him into the sand.

*

Han escorted Luke to the briefing room, the dim blue glow of dozens of computer screens leaking into the dark hall and veiling them in aquamarine. Han turned to him and squeezed his shoulder. “This is where I leave you. She’s in there with them.”

“And where are you going?” Luke shook his head.

Han flashed his teeth. “Far away from that,” he said as he fluttered his hand in the direction of the computers. After watching him return to the shadows, Luke padded carefully into the briefing room.

Inside, he saw three men wait in crumbling office chairs. He remembered the first man as Poe, his sister’s favorite agent, looking eager to hop out of the meeting and into a hover car as always. He didn’t recognize the other one, who sported a sour expression on his face to accompany his tightly balled fists. Finally, after a second look (and shorter distance) he noticed that the third man was in fact not a man but a Synth. Luke sighed. _With how fast modern technology was advancing, he soon wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between human and synthetic._

And, of course, he saw the silhouette of the woman who had summoned him, framed in pale blue light. When he reached her chair he bent down and placed a soft kiss into her hair. “Leia.”

She smiled warmly up at him. “Luke!”

*

After settling into his own battered chair and given a cup of tea, the five of them huddled around the faint light of computer screens. Leia began the meeting as always. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know it’s dangerous. But, I wouldn’t call for you if it weren’t absolutely necessary.”

Luke felt the tension close in on his throat again. “What’s going on?”

Leia explained BB-8’s mission. She then asked the Synth to describe the girl he met that night, and as BB-8 recalled the encounter, Luke felt recognition curl up inside him.

“And this… magnetic feeling… are you sure it was coming from her?” he asked.

BB-8 nodded affirmatively.

Luke exhaled and watched the tea swirl in his cup. “She seems powerful. I haven’t heard of a such an intense power since…” He paused, suddenly aware of the emotional draw he felt from his twin. “Well… for a long time. It is imminent for us to have her on our side.” He staggered up from his chair, placed his tea cup on the desk and turned towards the hall. “I should find her before it’s too late.”

Leia caught his sleeve in her hand and urged him. “Luke, no. That’s too dangerous. If the First Order finds you, we will have lost our only powerful ally. We have to send them.” She gestured at the three agents. One of whom, the one Luke did not know, looked like he was about to boil over.

“Poe, you and Finn must help BB-8 track this girl down. She knows you already right? Offer her shelter here with the Resistance. Then we can have her train with Luke.”

Suddenly, Finn shot up from his chair.

“No! He’s not ready!” he fumed.

“Finn!” BB-8 griped.

Poe jumped up and placed a hand on his seething partner. “Whoa-kay buddy let’s take it down a notch.”

“No, I will NOT-“ Finn opened his mouth to go on but then stopped and exhaled through his nose. “He’s just not ready yet. You can find someone else!”

“There _isn’t_ anyone else. It has to be him,” Luke insisted.

Finn huffed irritably and paced over to the side of the room, followed closely by Poe, who coaxed him inaudibly in the shadows.

Luke walked over to BB-8 and under Finn’s scornful watch, placed a hand on the Synth’s shoulder.

“BB-8, can you sense that feeling from before?” 

“Um, it’s faint but yes I can sense it.”

“Follow it. It should lead you right to her.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Luke looked up to the other two agents, his gaze locked with Finn’s. “You have to find her. She’s our only hope.”

*

Kylo woke to the shuddering of the ground beneath him. Hot blood rushed to his cheek when he rose his head, as he seemed to have been resting on Rey’s hair for the entire night ride. He glanced out the window to see the brightly lit cityscape outside slowing down to meet them. _Train… stopping?_ his tired mind patched together.

A final jolt of the train’s cessation woke the sleeping girl beside him. “What’s going on?” Rey stirred.

Kylo felt a brush on his arm as an attendant rushed up the hall. He inched his head into the open space, following the attendant until he disappeared behind a small curtain. “I don’t know, but it’s not good.”

After a few moments of aching silence, the attendant returned and shakily mandated that all passengers kindly exit the car. Rey and Kylo exchanged a worrisome look. 

“It’s okay,” he reassured her.  
They exited in single file behind the remaining passengers in their car and Kylo followed Rey, hovering his hand inches from her side. He felt a need to keep her within reach, whether it in preparation to protect her or because the lack of her touch bothered him he wasn’t quite sure.

Upon breaching the outside, his vision was bombarded by blaring honey-orange light and the shimmer of reflecting caution tape. Dozens of construction vehicles surrounded them, along with a messy hive of fumbling workers and impatient officers.

“This way!” a waving officer directed. As they shuffled with the other passengers, Kylo snuck a glance at the center of the commotion behind them, and his eyes widened at the carnage. A train car, not much larger than the one they were previously asleep in, was crammed- no- _crumpled_ in the mouth of the approaching tunnel. The broad beams of crushed silver reminded Kylo of puddle-soaked newspaper, appearing fragile and malleable as they wilted in the blocked opening. Snaps of electricity sputtered from the heap of steel in deadly warning and dark brown liquid seeped from underneath its belly. He knew of only a few people who harbored the type of power necessary to inflict this much damage, and only two who desired to inflict it on him.

 _Smoking us out like rats,_ he cursed under his breath. _Well, we have no choice but to walk now._  
“Stay close to me,” he warned in her ear.

*

Rey had never been to this part of the City before. The influx of frustrated train passengers flowed into an already heavily crowded marketplace grudgingly but she was ecstatic. Her eyes flickered around as the market bustled energetically and the mid-afternoon sunlight stretched over merchant tents. Rey was intoxicated by the lushness of it.

They passed grunting fishermen tossing fresh catches from the nearby lake, artists standing proudly next to their paintings and jewelry, and florists setting up fresh bundles of exotic plants. As they passed one flower arrangement, a wrinkled man offered Rey a small pink plant with bell-shaped blossoms. 

“Almost as bright as you, love,” he said charmingly.

Rey blushed and accepted the flower, though her joy faded as she practically felt Kylo’s distaste from behind her. Fueled by a sudden peak of spite, she stopped their movement and with a clear voice ordered four more of the soundless bells. When the elderly man serviced her, she gave Kylo an expectant look. He rolled his eyes and dug into his pocket for payment. Satisfied, she continued their way through the market, peppering her journey with the sweet scent of her new prize.

The seemingly endless alley of merchants finally dwindled, bleeding out into the beginnings of the financial district.

She looked up to see the staggering DroidTech building soaring above them, still far but much closer- and larger- since the last time she saw it. Now, it stared down at them expectantly, as if monitoring her every move. Perplexed by this newly found fear, she fumbled with her footing and stumbled into the person in front of her, dropping her clutch of pink blooms. 

“Sorry!” she gasped as she knelt down to pick up her flowers, only to be beaten by the young man she had bumped into.

“Not a problem, ma’am,” he laughed. When he rose to return her flowers, her hazel irises met his synthetically copper ones, and her breath caught as she finally realized why he seemed so familiar. _The Droid from the rooftop._

He batted his orange eyes at her knowingly. She couldn’t speak, only stand there with her mouth ajar, not sure what to say as the Droid waited expectantly, his smile beginning to fade.

A dark baritone broke their shared moment. “Thank you very much, Sir,” Kylo said as he wrapped his broad arm around to rest on Rey’s hip possessively. “Come on sweetheart, we don’t want to be late like last time.” 

It took a few seconds for Rey to register both the firmness of his touch and the fact that she was required to reply. “Uh, yes! Thank you again,” she said as Kylo whisked her away from the Droid so powerfully that he almost lifted her from the ground. She looked back to BB-8 briefly and watched as a confused expression morphed on his face, followed by a slight wave of his hand.

*

Trailing a few tents behind them, Poe and Finn casually strolled through the market, watching carefully as BB-8 approached the target and as practiced, halted suddenly to bump into her.

“Is that her?” Finn asked.

“It looks like her. Only BB-8 can confirm it though.” Poe watched as BB-8 gleamed at the girl and gave her a bundle of flowers.

“He’s quite flirtatious.”

“He learned that from _you,_ ” Finn chuckled. Poe smiled proudly, but the smile was short lived as he noticed the towering man clad in black next to them, who swung his arm around the target and pulled her away tenaciously. He could recognize that face anywhere, even after years of absence. For a moment, joy fluttered through Poe in knowing that he wasn’t dead after all, but dread eventually froze over as he realized what his presence meant.

“Damnit,” he cursed.

“What?” Finn asked.

“That’s B- that’s Kylo Ren.”

“I don’t get it, who is Kylo Ren?” 

Poe ignored Finn as he pleaded silently and waited for BB-8’s status. _Please let that be the wrong girl. Please tell me that’s not her. Please._

“That’s her alright!” BB-8 chimed through his earpiece.

“Shit.” 

“Poe, what’s wrong?” Finn pleaded.

“This job just got a lot more intricate. We have to contact Leia immediately.” He pressed on his earpiece. “BB-8 we need to return to base.”

*

“What was that about?” Rey demanded when Kylo finally let her walk at her own pace, his arm still tightly bound around her side.

“Blending in. Less m-, uh, people will interrupt us if we look like we’re together.” 

Her eyebrows furrowed. “He was just giving me my flowers back.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t trust anyone right now Rey.”

“Anyone?” she teased.

His voice cooled as he stared forward. “Anyone.”

Rey remembered the card that Poe gave her just a few nights before and felt it burn with presence in her back pocket. For a moment she considered mentioning to Kylo that she knew the Droid, but ended up keeping it to herself. Though she wouldn’t admit it, she enjoyed his feigned affection too much to potentially ruin it with a comment like that.

The financial district was much less exciting than the marketplace, as the colors surrounding them reduced to various shades of grey and navy. When they began to enter the club district, the sun was barely dipping below the horizon. The day’s death spilled into the sky and curtained the buildings in an array of rich ruby and honey. 

The sun warmed pavement underneath Rey’s feet vibrated with the bass of underground clubs. She had heard stories of the madness of this district before, but never had the means to travel this far into the City, let alone waste precious time _dancing._ Now, in her sudden freedom, the prospect intrigued her and she kept a mental list of the club names as they passed. 

WILD WORLD NIGHTCLUB

SULA-RAEVE

STAR-BEAM LOUNGE

FUTURE CLUB

 _How original,_ she thought as she saw the last one. Then, it hit her. Fervently, she grabbed his hand and yanked him towards the stairs leading down to the entry door. _If they needed to be hidden, why not hide in one of the most populated areas of the City?_

“What are you doing?”

“ _Blending in._ Come on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I'm sorry if this chapter was a bit dry... I promise next one will be much much juicer! 
> 
> If you ever want to chat, feel free to reach out to my Tumblr (eveningeyes is my main, eyesofemeraldgreen is my writing blog) :)
> 
> ALSO,
> 
> The nightclubs mentioned in the last bit are actually shout outs to some of my favorite writers/artists Wilde_world, Sularae, and Star-beam (she's on Tumblr and Etsy but I think she is writing a Green gables AU too!!) You ladies are the sweetest souls and you inspire me every day! <3 GO READ THEIR STUFF/LOOK AT THEIR ART if you haven't yet! I promise you it is so worth it! 
> 
> Finally, if you haven't already guessed, we have added two more songs to our playlist! So now we have:
> 
> 1\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship  
> 2\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe  
> 3\. Genesis by Justice  
> 4\. My Only Chance by The Toxic Avenger  
> 5\. Star Eater by Daniel Deluxe (so so so good)  
> 6\. The Plan by Waveshaper (their new album Lost Shapes is so GOOD!!!)  
> 7\. Night Train by Code Elektro  
> 8\. Modern Technology by Robert Parker & Waveshaper  
> 9\. Future Club by Perturbator


	5. Humans Are Such Easy Prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being patient with me. This chapter is probably my favorite thing that I've ever written, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! It's also kinda long so bring a snack ;) 
> 
> *WARNING*  
> Sooooo this chapter has a lot of violence. Theres a few scenes which involve violence against women and animals (if you consider animal-like Droids as such… which I do) so here are the brackets if you want to skip:
> 
> -Violence against women
> 
> starts with “He trudged through the crowd, blinded by white hot rage…” and ends at “I’m fine,” she fumed.
> 
> -Violence against animals
> 
> starting with “Rey’s grip tightened around him as they…” and ends before “the fallen’s counterpart”
> 
> and “She then saw it sink…” and ends before “Rey basked in her accomplishment.” 
> 
>  
> 
> Woof. As always I will give a summary in the end notes! Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support, please enjoy!

When they entered the nightclub it felt more like diving into a neon ocean, the rapturous crowd submerging them like water. The dance floor was murky with bodies, all swaying and jumping to the thunderous rhythm of the house music that reverberated in the humid air above them. The heads of ravers moved like waves in a sea-storm, erratic and choppy, yet also systematic and uniform. Rey parted the waters effortlessly as she dragged Kylo behind her to the center of the dance floor, a strangely peaceful eye of the storm. 

She then let go and reached above the surface, allowing the music to seep through the pores of her skin while the heavy strobes showered her hands in random flashes of brightly colored light. She could feel his eyes follow her every move, his gaze heavier than ever before. This, along with the electronic melody coursing through her, encouraged a hidden part of her to bloom, a dark confidence finally awoken. The proud bass pounded in her heart, the heat of the surrounding dancers relieved her, and the strobe lights fixated her senses, all whispering to her to bring him close.

She followed the feeling, reached for his shirt and pulled him to her until they were pressed tightly against one another. 

Wordlessly, she turned and reached behind her, pressing his hands to where the beat advised she should put them, to where she yearned for them most, and felt his grasp tighten around her curves. Almost satiated, she slipped her fingers around his neck to bring his head down, his lips grazing the skin just below her ear. She then began to sway to the beat, rolling her hips against his provocatively, predatorily, possessively. Though the music blared strongly and the shouts of the crowd drowned them, she could just barely hear the quavering of his breath and how it synchronized with her own. She drank in each air he spent, inebriating herself with his reaction to her.

All thoughts of their plan were buried at sea, spellbound by song and sensuality. They never spoke, yet their bodies talked to one another, speaking in a silent language. In this space, surrounded by strangers, they had never been more intimate.

*

Over a dozen heads of stormy water, two women sat leisurely at a bar glowing of shifting rose and amethyst, nursing clear liquid indolently as they watched their two marks dance in the middle of the nightclub, hopelessly unaware of anything but each other.

“You ladies want another round?” The balding, bulky bartender asked.

“Maybe next time, Bane,” Nava replied curtly. “We’re working tonight.”

Selah glowered her scarlet eyes at her targets. “Humans are such easy prey,” she surmised as she cleared the last of her drink and set the glass on the bar. She reached out to her partner. “Come on, love, it’s time to dance.”

The two then slithered into the depths of the dancing bodies.

*

The bass continued to pound in Rey’s chest like a second heartbeat.

She could feel every soul around her. She felt like she knew all of them, as closely as she knew herself, yet at the same time she would probably never see any of them again. It intrigued her, how so many spirits could connect under a neon moon, enchanted by electronic hymns.

Her enchantment was so deep that she failed to notice his absence. Perhaps it was the replacement of other warm bodies close to her, or the hypnotism of it all that dulled her senses enough to forget the serious peril she was in without him.

Soon, however, warm hands had returned to her. She welcomed them, returning to her initial hypnotic slumber until she noticed that the touch wasn’t the same. These hands were colder and doubled in number. They wrapped around her shape like vines, passing over her in a dominant way, and she felt a chill as one cupped her hair and pulled it from her neck. Frozen lips brushed against her earlobes and hot breath whispered in her ear.

“Leave him, sweet girl, come with us,” it hissed.

*

Somehow, Kylo was away from her. The tumultuous tide drifted him out to sea and created a distance between them. Severed from her, his senses adjusted again, slowly detailing the once blurry vision and droning sounds of the club.

His great height allowed him to easily find her in the waves, dancing thoughtlessly and radiating genuine bliss. It reminded him of their ride in his hover car, and he realized how much he yearned to see her completely free. He couldn’t help but smile, seeing her like that. It was as if the strobes only brightened her, the beat only amplified her, all of it encouraging the faint flutter of disobedience he felt to the job. 

He began to wade towards her, his hope heightening at the prospect of wrapping himself around her again. He watched as the bright lights painted her in color, each of which could be intended only for her, they looked so divine. The strike of a jaded green, the swell of a rich blue, the flicker of a red curl…

_Wait._

_No._

Kylo paled as the realization charged on him. He watched helplessly as Rey slipped into their grasp like a stone sinking in mud. Their hands roamed like vines over her, possessing her, and fueling his rage. His fists shook as he created deep crescents in his palms, threatening to break the skin.

He trudged through the crowd, blinded by white hot rage and furiously throwing people out of his path. Finally, he arrived, wrapping his monstrous hand around Selah’s collarbones and ripping the red-haired reptile off of Rey.

“Get away from her!” he snarled, lifting the woman inches off of the dance floor.

She winced under his vicious grip, her eyes widened in fear of the pure rage locked on her neck. Kylo narrowed his stare at her, darkening his promise, yet he couldn’t hide his own fear lurking underneath. Though his armor of rage intimidated her successfully, it was still splintered, and she was quick to notice. Her complexion of fear suddenly snapped. 

Her curious gaze flickered to Rey behind him, then back to Ren.

“I don’t believe it. You… you have _compassion_ for her.” Her eyebrows raised, lips sliding back and she shook her head slightly as bewilderment and amusement danced along her scarlet features. “Cruel. Even for _you_.”

He dragged her close and spat acid in her face. “You watch your tongue, or I will rip it out then crush your heart in your chest.”

“Careful, Ren,” warned a smooth voice. Kylo whipped his gaze behind him to see Rey panting heavily under Nava’s steady grip, her long claws clenched at Rey’s temple and jaw, fully prepared to snap her neck with a slight twist. “We shouldn’t let our personal interests interfere with orders.”

His jaw tensed. “We have no quarrel with you. Let her go.”

Selah nudged from under Kylo’s grip, leaning down and licking his thumb playfully, which resulted in a deeper force on her throat. “You know Nava, I love a good chase,” she quipped.

“As do I Selah. How about we give them a fair start?” And with that she released Rey, who hurried over to Kylo’s side and wrapped herself around his arm. 

“Kylo, come on,” she begged as she pulled on his sleeve. Relief flooded over his anger, and he freed the red woman from his grip. 

He then allowed Rey to drag him back into the crowd, the visual of their tormentors fading into the multitudes of dancers around them.

*

Once the two were out of sight, Nava rushed to Selah and placed her hands tenderly on her freshly bruised skin. “He hurt you.”

“I’m fine,” she fumed. She reached below and began violently tapping on a data pad. The soft blue glow illuminated the blotchy mud-red damage Kylo had inflicted, and Nava felt the rush of escaping a circumstance she couldn’t bring herself to imagine.

Selah brought the data pad to her ear.

“He’s playing games with her,” she reported.

Nava waited for a response, watching Selah’s expression turn from irritated to indignant.  


“Yes, sir. Permission to test the prototypes?” 

Her sly grin returned and she killed the data pad’s blue glow under her grasp. She then latched onto Nava’s hand and squeezed it tight.

“Come on.”

*

They flew up the club stairs, the balls of their feet propelling them further away from the surreal ocean with each step. Rey quickly snatched her staff from its quiet hiding place underneath the stairwell and slung it over her shoulder, following close behind Kylo, who took her hand firmly in his.

They raced together, their feet splashing through pools of reflective pavement blanketed by a recently missed storm. Kylo pulled her harder than he ever had before, so hard Rey’s feet barely touched the ground. He dragged her fervently as they approached a hover cycle. Kylo quickly dove into its wiring, keen on bringing it to life swiftly.

Out of breath, she watched him and as his intent dawned on her, so did her irritation.

“Oh, so _now_ we’re allowed to take a hover craft?” she huffed.

The hover cycle roared to life, lights flashing and signals ringing. He swung his giant figure over the seat.

“That was different. We were hiding before, now we’re being hunted. Get on.”

She swung herself over and they leapt into the sky. 

Rey’s mind spun endlessly, a wheel of flashing emotions constantly shifting in dominance and overwhelming her. First it was the fear of those women who almost killed her, who seemed to know him, then the ever-present lurking of doubt in Kylo, _what did she mean “orders”? _, and finally, the most powerful feeling of all, the bliss of being in the air once again.__

__She held on tighter as they passed over an array of restaurants, adding hunger to the endless list of things she felt._ _

____

*

BB-8 poked at the basket of undercooked French fries, looming in the heavy air of his first failed mission. He sat in a sticky booth of some burger joint, next to Poe who was engaged in conversation across from Finn, the three awaiting a response from Leia. Though BB-8 could hear them perfectly well, his disappointment drowned out their words so that only fragments remained.

“DroidTech grew… we learned of the First Order…”

“We all thought he was dead… They’ve never been the same…”

BB-8 cursed himself. _I could do it, if only I had another chance. I could prove myself!_

Suddenly, BB-8 heard the familiar ping of a hover cycle. His head snapped up to to look out the restaurant window. As if in reply to his silent prayer, he saw Rey and her grumpy bodyguard whiz past on a hover cycle.

“Poe!” He smacked Poe’s shoulder at vibrational frequency.

“What?”

“That’s them!!”

“What’s them?”

“The _girl_ , Poe! It’s Rey! We still have a chance!”

“No, BB-8 we have to wait for Leia and reevaluate the miss-“

“The MISSION was to return to the Resistance with the girl! And that’s her right there!”

“BB-8, I know you’re upset, but-“

“But nothing! You have the fastest hover car in the City, correct?”

Poe shrugged and smirked. “Well, yes but-“

“But what?!” BB-8 pounded his hands on the table for emphasis.

Finn laid a tender hand over BB-8’s. “I think what Poe is trying to say is that it’s not that simple.”

BB-8 sat back, switching his unbelieving gaze between them. He paused for a change of heart, but when it never came, he then decided to take matters into his own hands.

“You’re cowards, b-both of you! If..if you’re not going to complete the mission, well then I WILL!” He grabbed Poe’s hover car keys from the latch on his belt, vaulted over him in the booth and sprinted at full speed through the doors of the restaurant.

*

Poe’s sleek hover craft purred seductively as BB-8 kicked the gas pedal and shot into the sky. He could see the faint blue cloud of disintegrating glow from their hover cycle, and he was eager to catch up to his target.

 _I’ll show them_ , he thought.

Almost in reply, he heard Poe and Finn’s frantic voices come through his earpiece.

“BB-8 you don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Young man, turn that car around right NOW!”

“BB-8 if you don’t come down right now, I’ll… I’ll…”

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do! I can do this!” BB-8 shouted, his voice shakier than he’d liked.

A moment of radio silence followed him.

He then heard their voices muffle and crack as the distance between them grew and frayed the communication link.

“What… that? What is… Poe?!”

“BB-8… not a suggestion… order… Get …ground NOW!”

Frustrated, BB-8 ripped his ear tech out and tossed it into the passenger seat. He adjusted himself, burying the wave of betrayal and nervousness with thoughts of virtue and hope, and pushed harder on the gas. The hover car roared as it shot forward through the night air, an animalistic cry ringing through BB-8’s complicated thoughts.

It was only when he adjusted his mirror did he notice that it was _not_ his car emitting the thunderous screeching noise, but something else entirely, which was now approaching behind him and opening its monstrous jaws.

*

Less than a moment after BB-8 shot out of the restaurant, two very concerned agents followed, sprinting down the street and crying out for their freshly-rogue partner. The realization that they would never be able to outrun a Synth materialized as they slowed, resulting in two worried father-figures circling the pavement underneath a yellowing streetlight and yelling anxiously into what appeared to be thin air.

Poe began the assault. “BB-8 you don’t know what you’re doing!”

Finn turned to giving orders. “Young man, turn that hover car around right NOW!” 

When that didn’t work, Poe tried using empty threats. “BB-8 if you don’t come down right now, I’ll… I’ll…”

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do! I can do this!” They both heard in their earpieces. 

They shared a look, knowing full well that they had a large part in raising BB-8 to be this courageous, and Finn crashed into Poe’s arms. Poe squeezed him tightly, hoping to calm some of the worry that he knew was pulsing through him.

When he raised himself from Poe’s shoulder, Finn’s gaze narrowed at a couple of storm clouds in the cityscape, blinking at how they moved animatedly and reflected the neon lights of the City like sparks of lightening. He pondered as they seemed to move too animatedly, and were moving much too fast to be storm clouds.

“Poe?” Finn whispered.

The clouds approached quickly, and loomed over the two agents, their iridescent scales mirroring their surroundings as they passed.

“What is that? What are those Poe?!”

“What the hell…” 

The two watched as the clouds revealed themselves as soaring reptilian like creatures, swimming in the sky, saddled by two women dressed in black. Fear consumed Finn as he realized the beings were heading directly towards BB-8.

Poe pressed his earpiece in further and shouted towards the sky, a futile attempt in getting the signal across. “BB-8 this is not a suggestion, it’s an order! Get on the ground NOW!”

*

Kylo pushed their hover cycle to its extent, ripping them through the unwilling night. The girls’ silence grew heavier with each moment of their absence, blanketing him in frozen sweat and tightening his chest. He knew that Selah would never refuse a game, especially if he were the prize. What he didn’t know was how they would play. And how he could keep Rey safe.

She stayed quiet since they climbed into the sky, wrapping her thin arms around him vigorously, and pressing herself deeply into the padding of his shirt. He could feel her gentle warmth against the cool night. It felt right somehow, having her close. _Shouldn’t it feel wrong?_ Guilt twisted up into his chest like thorny vines, prickling his insides with poisonous truth. _How could you forget? This is her fate, delivered sweetly by your hands._

Kylo exhaled, pushing the thorns out from his chest and forcing his intent on the path ahead.  
Still, he found himself unable to control the urge to check on her every minute or so, watching her scrunched features from his rusty side mirror, and wondering what she could be thinking.

He was observing the furrow of her eyebrows when a flicker of movement behind her caught his attention. Squinting, he saw a hover car speeding brilliantly in their wake. He thought he knew that car, wickedly fast with a theatrical orange glow, there wasn’t any other like it in the City. But it couldn’t really be, could it?

Then, in the tiny mud-crusted circle, he watched as a colossal, jagged toothed, reflective-scaled being advanced from behind the car, and emitted a sound so coarse and bestial that it could only come from a mixture of animal and machine. _Star Eater._ He knew of Snoke’s new design, conceived entirely by Selah’s vicious imagination, but thought that they were still in development, no where near ready for _experimentation._

Kylo then witnessed the iridescently colored Droid open its jaw to display its wide array of uneven dagger-like teeth and envelop the hover craft in pale cerulean blaze. He saw the scorched car plunge down uncontrollably, disobedient to its scrambling pilot and locked in gravity’s hold.

The Star Eater unleashed another rapturous cry, which was then amplified by the replicated roar of yet _another_ Star Eater. The two massive Droids flew around each other playfully in the sky, and Kylo could see the women perched on top the peaks of their necks, utterly delighted in their advantage.

_Everything with you has to be a spectacle, doesn’t it?_ he cursed inwardly.

“What are those Kylo?!” Rey shrieked from behind him.

As if attuned to her voice, the colossuses snapped their heads in their direction, and began voraciously flying towards them.

Kylo revved up the bike, whipping them faster through the air, using as much help from the Force as he could to propel them further.

He kept his gaze forward as he heard their ominous bellows becoming louder and louder, hinting at their diminishing distance. They were mid-level in the sky, higher than the streets, but not yet above the skyscrapers. This height was too easy for the Star Eaters, their massive forms could twist and swirl effortlessly in the open space. He punched the bike’s gear, plunging into the City’s viscera. _Let’s see how well they do in tight corners._

*

They swerved through sleeping districts and hyper markets, over ribbons of traffic and stark neon signs. They zipped past apartment buildings, with spectators rushing out to their balconies to witness the sight. City-dwellers pointed fingers and cried, and blaring police cars attempted to follow them, the officer’s bullets completely deflected by the Star Eater’s scaly husks. The glow of the hover cycle’s wake, along with the red and blue flashes of police sirens, illuminated the trio in a sickly violet, staining the City with the mark of their violence. Their path was shadowed with destruction and scored with terror.

Kylo carefully plotted his every move, not only in effort to keep them just out of reach of snapping jaws and blooms of fire but also to minimize the damage as much as possible. The chasing Droids, however, disregarded the value of any obstacle in their way, ripping up the sides of buildings and tops of cars with their serrated tails as easily as soft soil. Shattering glass rained down on the City streets, and Kylo searched his mental map for somewhere less populated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the metal valley of construction sites in the newest district, and lead the group towards it. If he could tire the Droids, then maybe they could have a chance to get away.

When they arrived, Kylo took the first chance to weave into the intricate labyrinth of metal beams and concrete walls. The Star Eaters followed closely, scraping themselves on the metal and trailing a veil of sparks. They dove and plunged through the building’s bones ruthlessly, wildly hungry to achieve the task embedded in their programming. Kylo knew that even if they were reduced to scraps, they would still crawl for them. He would have to try to eliminate them, somehow. 

Twisting the party in a sharp corner, he led them to an area spotted with high reaching cranes carrying dense shipping containers stories above them. With a bend of his fingers, he used the Force to snap the thick cord suspending the crates at their dizzying height, to send them soaring downward. Then, he pushed the cycle directly in the path of their downfall.

Rey’s grip tightened around him as they barely passed under the falling crates, missing the crushing force by a fraction of an inch. He felt her tuck her head against him as the materials slammed down into the ground, filling the air with a thick metallic dust. Checking his now dingy side mirror, he saw the crushed skull of one Star Eater, penetrated by the shipping crate and pounded into the earth. He also saw the silhouette of a woman struggling to stand in the settling dirt.

The fallen’s counterpart screeched in mourning, oscillating vigorously with rage and unleashing an explosion of sea foam fire. The incendiary wave wounded the cycle, melting it’s underbelly and hastening it’s ultimate failure. Kylo pushed on, away from the construction site with the blindly ravenous Star Eater on their tail.

*

The hover cycle rattled in protest as they approached Lake Mortis, the only source of water in hundreds of miles, the foundation of the City. The Star Eater’s fire damaged the cycle fatally, and they wouldn’t be able to evade for much longer, all of their options exhausted. Rey searched her mind for something, anything that could battle the creeping fear of crashing, or even better, save them from a searing sapphire death.

How strange that it was so peaceful with him only a day ago, back when they were growing comfortable with one another and levitating pens on a bustling train.

_“Do that and you may accidentally lodge that pen in my eye,”_ his smooth voice replayed in her memory.

A rough jolt of the cycle swung her back to the moment and bumped her staff against her knee. Then it struck her.

“I have an idea,” she said aloud, yet unsure if Kylo heard her. Nonetheless, she began climbing around him.

“What are you doing?”

_Refusing to be the damsel for any longer,_ she replied to herself. She crawled around the shaking bike so that she was facing him, then lifted herself on her knees.

“Rey, what are you doing?”

“I have an idea. But you’ll have to trust me. And damnit, hold on to me,” she mandated while securing his arm around her hips like a secondary seatbelt.

Lifting herself above him, the realization of their placement in the sky overwhelmed her with the feeling of free-fall. She stared at the leviathan-like Droid, challenging it, who snapped its jaws in reply. She then slung her staff over her shoulder and looked at its weathered leather strap and scraped metal body. She honored it silently.

_Thank you for saving me more times than I can count. Please save me one last time._

Rey vaulted the staff over her head, and shot her hand out. Mustering every source of strength in her, she pleaded that the Force hear her prayer, and amplified the staff’s acceleration with her outstretched hand. She saw it speed away, like a needle through the velvety fabric of night.

She then saw it sink into the glass iris of the last Star Eater, which immediately limped and began plummeting to the lake surface by gravity’s force alone. She also saw the boundless rage of the scarlet woman who rode its back.

Rey basked in her accomplishment, but her moment of relief died quickly when Kylo pulled her back down.

“Rey! Listen to me.” His face was mere inches away, and his eyes bored into hers with dread. “We’re going to hit the water. I need you to hold on to me as tight as you can, okay? Do not let go!” 

Rey shook her head wordlessly, her throat constricted by fear.

She saw the buildings around them race upward as the relentless pull of free-fall dragged them towards the lake, faster and faster with each moment.

“Do NOT let go!” he ordered once more. 

She felt him secure his arms around her and kick the hover cycle away from them. He turned them so that his back faced the lake surface, and covered her in his large frame. She tucked herself into his chest as the lake water hurried up to meet them, then engulfed them in blackness.

The Star Eater followed closely behind, striking the water so ferociously that it shifted into story-high waves that crashed on the surrounding edges. Its fading lights struck beams of color into the black lake, as its great weight carried the Droid deeper into the crushing depths.

*

Water surrounded her, dark and murky. Coldness penetrated her skin and froze her blood, making it impossible to move her limbs in the thin water.

In the darkness, she spotted a darker figure, drifting slowly downward.

Suddenly, fire ran through her veins rapidly as she kicked desperately towards him.

Her own need for air caught up to her, her body begging her to leave him and surface, but something in her kept kicking instead. She just needed to reach him, then she could pull him to the surface. She just needed to reach him.

She kicked violently, her chest burning and her skin stinging, and she reached out into the chilling liquid to grab a hold of his dark fabric.

*

She breached just before his weight damned them both. Her momentum kept her above the surface for a moment, but as well as he bobbed up with her, his weight dragged her lips back under. She gathered her last shreds of strength and followed the tide to the shore.

Rey pulled his heavy body onto a field of neatly trimmed grass. She swiped the wet black hair from his paled face and found herself perplexed by his condition. His rosy lips tinted blue and purple, his scornful complexion at peace, it all made her increasingly uncomfortable.

But he wasn’t breathing.

Anxiety rushed through her, as she knew how to fix many things, but she did not know how to fix this. She pushed his chest and smacked him in trying to wake him, but to no avail. He still lay as serenely as slumber. She only realized she was crying when she saw her teardrops splatter against his paleness. She couldn’t lose him, not like this! He was her ticket out of the City! Her only way to maybe find her parents again! He was her friend! He was… well, what was he?

She hesitated, unable to pinpoint what the feeling was, this newly revealed longing to see him breathe, more so than anyone else in the world.

Whatever he was, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

She kept shoving on his chest and smacking his face. _No, no this isn’t right!_ Her weeping grew into sobs.

“Damnit, Kylo, come back! Come back!” 

Her sobs grew weaker as she began to give up. She leaned in close, nose to nose, her wet hair dripping on his cheeks. 

“Please,” she begged.

She thought she felt him flinch and rose up. Suddenly, his blue lips curled into a smirk and he spat water at her. She instinctively raised her hands in front of her, barely missing his aquatic attack. A whirlwind of emotion spun inside her, staring at him flustered, offended, but mostly relieved.

She beamed when the relief surged through her, seeing him cackle at his sick joke, until her anger boiled over. She smacked his shoulder hard with her hand.

“You! You… idiot! I thought you were dead!”

He laughed harder, propelling himself into a coughing fit, which ended in soft chuckles. She enjoyed watching him smile, a sight she had of only barely caught glimpses, but warmed her greatly. But, she was still extremely angry. To punish him, she stood, crossed her arms, and lied to him through bared teeth.

“I seriously cannot wait until we get to DroidTech because I cannot WAIT to be rid of you! You irritating, egotistical ass!” 

“As you wish,” he chided coolly, as if not almost dead only moments ago.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Look up, sweetheart.” He laid his head on the soft grass and exhaled. 

Her eyes searched forward and just as he said, above her were those brilliant white letters of the DroidTech sign, peering down at her as they stripped the clouds in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It all happens next chapter ;) 
> 
> Did anyone notice the shout out to Darth Bane? He's also in Wicked Games <3 (ok I'll stop plugging now I promise)
> 
> Thank you for reading as always, I hope you enjoyed this as it was so much fun to write! Comments are always appreciated (fangirled over) but not necessary. 
> 
> If you wanna chat, I'm on Tumblr! My main blog is eveningeyes and my writing blog is eyesofemeraldgreen :) 
> 
> For the skippers:  
> Kylo gets violent when he sees Selah and Nava dance with Rey and whisper in her ear. He interrupts/threatens Selah, then Nava threatens Rey (causing Kylo to back down). The women decide to play a cat-and-mouse game, letting Kylo and Rey get a head start before they chase after them.
> 
> While being chased by Leviathan/Dragon like robots, Kylo manages to kill one by using the Force at a construction site. With the other still hot on their tails, and their hover bike about to crash, Rey has a crazy idea to kill the last robot by projecting her staff (with the Force) into its eye.
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, we've added more songs to our playlist! So now we have:  
> 1\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship  
> 2\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe  
> 3\. Genesis by Justice  
> 4\. My Only Chance by The Toxic Avenger  
> 5\. Star Eater by Daniel Deluxe (inspiration for the Star Eaters)  
> 6\. The Plan by Waveshaper  
> 7\. Night Train by Code Elektro  
> 8\. Modern Technology by Robert Parker & Waveshaper  
> 9\. Future Club by Perturbator (what I picture the club music to sound like)  
> 10\. Humans are Such Easy Prey by Perturbator (Terminator quote!!)  
> 11\. Acid Spit by Mega Drive


	6. A Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A boy falls. A father stands. A gift is delivered. A man breaks free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thank you for reading as always! (To those who celebrate, Happy Hanukkah! <3) I'm glad to finally get to this point with you, because this chapter changes everything. I've also updated the chapter count, since I forgot to last time and mostly because I've found that as I write, I think of more things to write. So here we are. I hope you enjoy ;) 
> 
> This chapter isn't all too violent (phew) but there are situations of violence/hinting of sexual assault against women that starts at "He began to run towards the desk..." and ends before "His own voice wasn't more than a scratched whisper."
> 
> As always, I'll give you a run-down in the end notes.
> 
> To that end, happy reading!

                        

 

BB-8 awoke to a rainfall of embers surrounding him, crackling freely and harmonizing with the hot snaps of electricity that skittered around the wrecked hover car. A slamming, throbbing feeling tortured his mind as he felt around the cold pavement, gathering sensory information rapidly as his electronic brain tried to figure out what had happened. In his ears were the high hiss of the engine sputtering with oil and smoke and the gentle yet scratchy tune of music from the radio. In his eyes, the twinkle of shattered glass spread across the pavement, and chunks of twisted and melted metal, shredded so hard against the ground upon impact that pulverized bits dragged behind in long stains. His mind weaved in and out of consciousness, but when he could think, he only thought one thing.

_Move._

He mandated his legs to pick him up, but they disobeyed him. He tried again, but they didn’t listen. He then ordered his arms to move him instead, and he crawled away from the hissing accident.

_Gotta keep moving._

As he dragged himself, broken glass sliced off pieces of his synthetic skin, revealing his mechanical skeleton. His eyelids grew heavier with each pull, tempting him to release himself.

_Just want to see them again._

Exhaustion crept over him, like a weighted blanket. Even as each movement grew weaker, he kept reaching and pulling, his face strained and twisted with resurfacing pain. He felt the ground reverberate softly with the rumble of approaching footsteps. Through half-mast eyes, he saw the familiar pattern of shoes he knew too well, those stupid, stupid shoes.

“Finn?”

“Oh my god,” someone said.

“Hey, buddy, it’s okay. It’s okay,” someone else said.

“I’m… sorry,” BB-8 gasped.

The weight of exhaustion grew heavier, and BB-8 couldn’t even keep his head upright anymore, as he felt the coldness of the pavement being replaced by a board of warmth as strong hands lifted him across a shoulder.

“It’s okay buddy, we’ll fix you. It’s okay.”

Believing it, he let the feeling consume him, wrapping him in a deep slumber.

*

Holding him, he had forgotten how heavy the kid was. Often in their rush, Finn would have to stop and adjust the moaning Synth on his shoulder, ruffling the trash bag they covered him with. Poe said it was to hide him from scavengers, but Finn wanted it mostly because the weather was starting to grey, and with his exposure, BB-8 could now seriously suffer from water damage. _In his exposure._ It felt wrong, seeing the thick foliage of wire and light from underneath his plastic, human-like skin. Finn knew that BB-8 could live comfortably without his biotic camouflage, as many cheaply-made Synths did, but the disguise helped BB-8 blend in, and helped others see him as more than a pile of metal. Perhaps it helped BB-8 nestle his way into a permanent spot in Finn’s heart, or maybe that happened all on its own.

He hoped it would help convince computer engineers, as Poe racked on the back door of Connix and Tico’s TechRepair shop.

The door opened slightly, letting a crack of warm air vent through and eventually blooming across Finn’s nose. A curious brown eye and a sliver of blonde hair slipped through the crack. They used silence as their inquiry, and Poe flashed a Resistance card. The door then shut dramatically, causing Finn and Poe to share a worried look, but then a melody of unlocking bolts and chains played from behind the metal barricade, culminating with a heavy _whoosh_ of the metal door opening.

They laid BB-8 down on a workbench, one far too small for his size, and his long limbs dangled in midair as they discussed the work in need to be done. The two computer engineers’s faces twisted and scrunched as Finn and Poe explained the cause of the damage, the _edited from classified information version_ , and the one with tight blonde buns slowly shook her head while the other with a soft black ponytail carefully examined the Synth below them.

After a few minutes, the stoic blonde spoke.

“You really did a number to him, and with _fire_ damage, I don’t know how much we can salvage.”

“Can you just get him new parts, to replace the damaged ones?” Poe asked impatiently.

She narrowed his eyes at him. “Maybe, but there’s bound to be issues in his deep circuits… replacing them may affect his core drive, influencing his memories, abilities, personality…” She trailed off. “I don’t know. He may already be too damaged to save.”

“I could do it,” The smaller, softer engineer said while grazing her hands over BB-8’s muscle-like wiring. “Kaydel is right, he has a lot of problems in his deep circuits, and I may have to introduce a whole new set of converters, all of which will take time, but, I think I could do it.” She looked to her fellow engineer and then to Finn and Poe. “We can do it.”

Hot, uncontrolled tears rolled down Finn’s cheek. “Thank you. Do you mind if I say something to him?”

The women shook their heads and dispersed, probably to gather materials for this hefty task.

Finn hovered to BB-8’s ear, his eyes still wet as he struggled to smooth his voice. “Hey kid, it’s me. You did a great job today, you did, we’re so proud of you. _I’m_ proud of you. I’m… I’m sorry that I didn’t believe in you. I just wasn’t ready to see you out there, the possibility of you…”

He cleared his tightening throat.

“I just need you to do one more thing, can you do that for me? I need you to come back to us, okay? Come back so that we can finish this, together.”

Standing up, he smoothed BB-8’s wild hair and placed a shaky kiss on his forehead.

He walked over to Poe, who was speaking to the blonde, Kaydel, in a hushed tone.

“Please, you have to fix him.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said as she walked away with a pile of supplies pressed to her chest. He caught her arm gently.

“Will you… uh, will you talk to him, while you work? He likes that.”

She eyed him, but then nodded her head softly.

As they closed the back door behind them and entered the alley way, Poe turned to Finn with his data pad buzzing.

“It’s Leia.”

*

Han casually roamed the City streets, taking the longer route and steering clear of the hive of hustling workers who swarmed around him. Massive screens above the hive displayed a young woman with short black hair and a microphone, detailing the horrendous wreckage the new Tatooine construction site. Behind her replayed data pad clips of giant flying reptiles and hastily-shot clips of a monstrous carcass being lifted out of Mortis Lake. He paused to watch them, forgetting the hot sear of two thinly-lined paper cups of spiced tea on his calloused fingers.

_Chai with plant milk and a touch of sugar- Yes, that’s how she liked it. Best not to let them get cold._

He tore his stare from the monitors and kept pacing the wet pavement.

When he arrived to the briefing room with her midnight present, he found her with her face in her hands, angelically silhouetted in blue-white light from electronic screens. He put the teas down dangerously close to a keyboard and sunk to his knees in front of her.

“Leia? What’s wrong?”

She rose from her hands, her face swollen and rosy. “It’s Ben, Han. He’s … alive.”

Han stiffened. “Alive? Where is he?”

"Where he’s always been, with Snoke,” she said quietly. Han’s stomach plunged, an old wound ripped anew and fresh for the cold air to greet.

She gathered his hands in hers, her smile faint and her puffy eyes ignited with new hope. “We can finally bring him home, Han!”

Han rose to his feet, his hands dropping from hers. He turned away, covering his mouth with his palm. “Leia, you know what this means. He’s gone.”

She stood up, defiant and stubborn as always. “No, our son is not gone.”

“Leia,” Han started to refute her, but hesitated when he turned to her and watched that glimmer of hope in her eyes recede and shift into sorrow. She tried to fight it, like she always did, but her valiant effort was eclipsed with fear.

“No, he’s, he’s…” she began to sob.

He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her quivering frame, smoothing her hair as she turned into his chest.

“I should go find him,” he said to the crown of her head.

She shook her head in his shirt. “No, it’s too dangerous. I can’t lose you too. He knows Poe, he will remember. I hope he will remember.”

He held her tighter, then released her.

She sniffed. “Where are you going?”

“I just remembered… something with the Falcon… I’ll be right back,” he stammered.

“ _Han!_ ” Finally, a familiar sound, her angry call for him. She was unparalleled when evoked, that he knew for sure.

“I’ll be right back.”

He stormed out of the briefing room as fast as his old joints could carry him.

*

Sneaking into the DroidTech building was much simpler than Rey had expected. A solid hit to the back of a couple guard’s heads and suddenly they were scampering across mirrored floors, fake plants, and sleekly patterned halls reminiscent of another time. Rey found herself eager to keep going, even in Kylo’s hesitated moments, when he was checking a hall or smashing a camera with his clenched fist.

Her stomach flipped over and over as they crossed each hall and mounted each stair. She found herself wetting her lips and moving her fingers to keep them from trembling so much. She was so _ready_. Ready to finally touch the Silencers, to finally be delivered from her harrowing debt, to reach her hands in the familial sky and feel the air curl around her outstretched fingers, to escape the City with Kylo at her side.

_Kylo._

Warmth spread across her chest and rippled down her extremities. She cared for him, more than she’d like to admit. And if he was doing this for her, a once simple task that now gathered intricacy with each passing hour, then perhaps he could stay. Perhaps… he _wanted_ to stay, and maybe his feelings reciprocated her own. She stood there, watching him, realizing just how much sweeter that fantasy of hers would taste with him in the passenger seat, letting their past die together in a neon flash…

He escorted them gracefully, almost as if he knew the building. He easily expected each approaching cluster of security guards, all dressed strangely similar to the men who attacked her in the apartment building all that time ago. It was like he was playing a game completely off of muscle memory, he was so elegant in stealthily taking them down. They flinched, snapped, then slowly descended to the ground under his careful finger movements.

 _So close, my God we are so close._ The anticipation surpassed all other feelings, all of the insidious alarm, all of the shadowing suspicion.

*

Kylo could feel Rey’s anticipation. Her false hope seeped from her and fouled the air, amplifying his churning feelings. Guilt threatened at his throat like bile. They snaked up towards Snoke’s penthouse, curling around the halls and stairs, taking out Snoke’s men as they infected the DroidTech building with their presence. With each soft _thud_ of an unconscious guard, he could feel his time running out. _Her_ time running out.

As they climbed each floor, Kylo thought of what to say to her.

Perhaps he could confess to her. Confess everything, like the meaning behind his familiarity with this place, the truth about her parents, and most dangerous of all, how he felt in her presence. Maybe she would forgive him, believe him, and leave with him instead. They could run away together, _no more masters, no more debts_. Let their past die like he told her days ago. Have nothing but each other, want nothing but each other. He certainly craved it, but did she?

If so, all they would have to do would be get by Snoke, whose office was only one thin floor away.

“The only way to the penthouse is through that elevator,” he found himself murmuring.

She flew down the corridor, her legs carrying her effortlessly, fueled by giddy young energy.

The elevator closed around them, sealing her fate. The realization of this overwhelmed him, depleting his lungs of oxygen and tangling his insides. He slammed the elevator’s emergency stop button. Antagonistic alarm rang around them.

Rey’s spitfire energy was now directed at _him_. “What are you doing?”

Under her potent gaze, his lungs never had enough air in them. Her lips were supple and … _wet_ , he noticed.

“Rey, before we do this, I-“

“What are you waiting for, we’re almost there!” she beamed and released his fingers from the button, killing the blaring alarm and pushing them higher in the sky. Her fingers curled around his gently. A warm, last attempt at calming him.

Then, the elevator doors opened. She turned around and her fingers slipped from his.

*

The office was impossibly large, each wall constructed of glass so spotless it looked as if they were hovering in the skyline. Crystalline obsidian floors mirrored the high ceilings, stained with a crimson red carpet, leading to a marbled desk, where new faces and familiar faces resided.

The red haired viper from the club, the one who cursed her from the back of an impaled Star Eater, sat wide-legged on the desk, her grin barely contained as her long curls draped over her thighs. The other one, the one from the club who hung her life in the balance with one quick flinch, stood stoically with her arms crossed. Next to her was a pallid, leathery, scarred man who sat confidently in his embroidered chair, tapping his fingers impatiently. He sat directly under a painted portrait of his exact posture. His eyes, icier than the frozen water of Lake Mortis, worked over her and numbed her bones.

“Young Rey. We’ve been expecting you,” he purred.

Rey blinked her widened eyes rapidly, trying to erase the view in front of her. Certainly it wasn’t real. She glanced around, searching for answers, yet nothing changed. Her stomach fluttered with the realization, beckoning icy sweat to break from her skin, replenished by waves of heated sparks tickling her back and sides. She felt herself shuffling backward, bumping into the man she once regarded as warm, who wordlessly stood behind her.

“I was worried, Kylo, that you may have been too conflicted for this task. But I see now that I was wrong to doubt you. My faith in you has been fully restored.” The man in the chair charmed.

Rey could barely hear his words as hot blood rushed in her ears. Kylo’s face held no readable emotion. It terrified her.

“Come close, Rey,” the man mandated.

*

“I don’t understand why we’re doing this.”

“It’s called the element of surprise. Literally no one will expect us to come in this way.”

“ _That’s_ because this is incredibly stupid!” Finn said as he untangled himself from his rope for the fifteenth time. They were swinging freely in the air, hundreds of stories above the City streets, held over certain death only by a couple of cords and a fitted jumper. _‘Swing down, break in, grab the kids, get out’_ was the fool-proof plan.

“You have to worry less, okay? I have a parachute.”

“You have… _a_ parachute? Did you pack me a parachute?”

Poe opened his mouth, then closed it.

“Are you serious Poe?!”

“Hey, think about it this way, if we fall you just gotta hold on to me tight,” he smirked, and gave him a flashed wink.

“Unbelievable,” Finn muttered as they climbed down to the windows of Snoke’s penthouse.

*

Between the walls of his office, Kylo was petrified once again. He felt as he did when he was a teenager, one enchanted by the words of a dark-suited man who promised to show him everything. Enchanted, then enlisted into contributing to a cause he did not believe in, and finally indebted to serve it dutifully because of his own weaknesses. Snoke’s potent charms kept him malleable, constrained, and most of all, loyal.

Kylo had always feared that nothing could break Snoke’s spell over him. He was still spellbound when he asked him to join his initiative, one that directly opposed his own mother’s. He was still bewitched when Snoke demanded that he assassinate his uncle in order to keep him in power. None of it was enough to release him from his chains.

It was only when he watched Snoke’s scaly hands place themselves on Rey’s damp face and his calcuolatory grin turn lecherous.

 _That’s_ when Ben Solo finally broke free.

He detached his lightsaber from his belt, igniting it solely with the rage that rushed through his body, as if the cackling crimson light were a faucet of his boiling emotions. He slammed the saber down, splitting the obsidian floor in sparkling embers and challenging his master.

“Let her GO!” he growled.

He began to run towards the desk, lifting his saber over his head and preparing to strike.

However, Selah was quicker, and snatched Rey in her grasp before Ben reached Snoke, his racing halting to a complete stop as he noticed the glowing thin blade held against her throat. She clicked her tongue at him, scolding him like a child.

Before he could move again, Ben felt the acute sting of electricity paralyze him into excruciating submission as two hefty Droids appeared from behind him and brought him to his knees with their hands. His fiery blade extinguished and dropped to his side.

Snoke’s smile diminished, replaced by a deep, malicious scowl. “Did you really think that I would forgive you for your disobedience? I knew you were turned ever since you hesitated in killing Skywalker. And now,” He grazed his hands across the air. “This.”

He got up from his chair and paced around to the struggling girl. “Well, at least you have brought me something of value.”

Rey looked at Ben, her harrowing stare more painful than all of the lightening and blades combined. She heaved with a mangled voice. “You’re a monster!” Selah snickered and placed a cherry-colored kiss on Rey’s wet cheek, who shriveled with disgust and discomfort.

His own voice wasn’t much more than a scratched whisper. “Please, Rey, I’m so sorry.” He turned through the sparking pain to his old master. “Let her go, Snoke. She wants to leave the City. Have Nava look into her mind, she’ll see it.”

Snoke’s icy gaze flickered at Nava, then back to Ben.

Ben pleaded. “Let her go. Please. Kill me if you want but let her go.”

A satisfactory grin reappeared on Snoke’s face. “Very well then.” He clutched Rey’s chin and turned it so she was forced to look at Ben. “Yes, he is a monster, my sweet girl. Now watch him _die_.”

Rey started to shake under Selah’s bladed grasp, her eyes wide with realized fear.

“No!” Her squirms were timid at first, but grew fierce as she understood how much her captor was struggling to keep her under.

“Nava,” Selah urged. Nava rushed over and quickly glided her hand across Rey’s damp forehead, causing her to crumple to the ground.

Seeing this, Ben screamed and lurched forward, his passion to save her feathering the bonds of the lightening and causing the building around them to quake.

*

Poe and Finn reached the beginnings of Snoke’s office as the building began to quiver. Poe cupped his hands on the glass and looked inside.

“Oh my god.” His voice was muffled through his hands.

“What?”

“It’s Kylo Ren. He’s going to rip this building apart. We have to abort the mission.”

“Are you sure?—“

The mountain of steel and glass that they were climbing shook vigorously, so much that the glass began to vibrate, threatening to burst. Poe looked up towards the stacks of glass above them.

“If this glass breaks it will shred us to pieces. I’m cutting our rope.”

Finn peered inside the glass, watching a man showered in sparks tremble and jerk, roaring silently. Wide cracks fractured the floor around him, like he was the source of the quake. He also saw the body of the girl, crumpled and motionless on the floor.

“Poe, what about the girl?”

“She’s dead. We have to go, _now_!”

The glass splintered, sending currents of crackling patterns over their heads and to their sides.

Just before it all was ruined, Finn watched as the man inside was covered with a fabric, then knocked harshly by a guard. He crumpled to the floor, and the quaking ceased. The glass windows, however, finally breached their capacities to hold, and the high pitched noise of shattering glass rained over them.

Finn felt the sharp jolt of free fall as Poe cut their rope. He held Poe tightly, waiting for the parachute to open and tug at him violently. But the tug never came. He only heard Poe’s frustrated grunts as he fumbled with the ties. Free fall became much heavier in that moment, as a splattering death rapidly approached. They screamed into empty air as they plummeted.

Suddenly, the feeling was stopped and replaced by another force towards the horizon. Finn felt around his new surroundings, noticing the fluffiness of exposed seating and the anguished rumble of a hard-worked engine. He looked to see Poe at his side, equally confused, and Han Solo in the driver seat, cursing at the topless hover car which had just saved their lives. Han didn’t bother to acknowledge them, only greeting them with one question.

“Where’s my son?”

*

The Falcon carried them up to the top of the DroidTech building, to where shattered glass created a cave-like opening to Snoke’s penthouse. Han coaxed her to hover at the mouth of the glass cave, and the three men stepped into the penthouse. The creeping sun of morning brightened the sky into a dusty orange color, it’s fruit-colored beams of light stretching over ruined obsidian floors and marbled desk. Chilly wind swept through the turned over office, rumbling a portrait of the big man himself. Han glared at his twisted acrylic grin.  
They were too late. The office was completely empty. Everyone, including his son, was gone.

*

They left him in boiling sands under an irradiated sun, miles from the safety of the City. Selah spat over his body, turning the sand a deeper shade of brown.

“Traitor.”

She turned and swung herself into their hover car, expecting Nava to follow, but she stayed behind. Selah rolled her eyes and brought out her red balm, gliding it over her lips while holding the dusted rearview mirror. Her patience ran as quickly as ice melting in the blistering sun.

“What, Nava? Is he still alive?”

Nava watched the faint fluttering of sand below Kylo's lips, evidence that he still drew breath.

_Don’t make me regret this, Ren._

“No,” she reported and left him to be buried in the hot dune, his shaken form slowly covered by wind-carried sands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is Ben going to get out of this one I wonder... and, is that a soft spot I see in Nava? ;) Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, comments always intrigue me but are not required<3 Since Tumblr is dying(??) I made a twitter account- eveningeyes but until then you can always hit me up on eveningeyes or eyesofemeraldgreen on Tumblr <3
> 
> For the skippers:  
> Ben runs to strike Snoke, but before he can reach him, Selah grabs Rey and holds her at knifepoint (? is that a word? idk). She's a bitch as usual. Then Ben is electrocuted by Droid guards while Snoke taunts him, revealing that he didn't actually forgive him and that he planned to kill Ben after he didn't kill Luke, but wanted to wait until after all of the Force-sensitives were delivered. Rey calls Ben a monster. Selah kisses her, causing Rey to be extremely uncomfortable. 
> 
>  
> 
> Finally we've added even MORE songs to our playlist!  
> 1\. Nightcall by Kavinsky
> 
> 2\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship
> 
> 3\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> 4\. Genesis by Justice
> 
> 5\. My Only Chance by My Toxic Avenger
> 
> 6\. Star Eater by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> 7\. The Plan by Waveshaper 
> 
> 8\. Night Train by Code Elektro
> 
> 9\. Modern Technology by Robert Parker & Waveshaper
> 
> 10\. Future Club by Perturbator 
> 
> 11\. Humans Are Such Easy Prey by Perturbator
> 
> 12\. Acid Spit by Mega Drive
> 
> 13\. Deep Circuits by Waveshaper
> 
> 14\. Converter by Mega Drive
> 
> 15\. A Monster by Waveshaper (This song is my FAVORITE from this playlist, and works extremely well with the Throne Scene from TLJ)


	7. Love and Madness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey fam! I know I'm updating a few days earlier than usual, but I felt like this chapter was ready for you to see! This one is shorter, less intense (except for one bit), and dare I say *gasp* fluffy. As always, I always love to hear your thoughts/comments <3 You guys are the best!
> 
> There is one part that is pretty violent (and although it's just an allusion to violence it's still pretty graphic) so here's how to skip it if you'd like :
> 
> It starts at "In the months that his body strengthened" and ends just before "Too real". Look in the end notes if you'd like a summary :)

 

In the Outlands, everything burned. When he closed his eyes, his aching lids singed. When he faced the sky, the hot sun’s caress scorched his cheeks. When he breathed, his lungs struggled to filter the spiced air, and mud accumulated at the edges of his mouth. The skin that wasn’t blistered and peeling clung to his bones under his black clothing, and he spent the days crawling out of boiling sands, only to be buried again by nightly windstorms. In the beginning, his muffled cries could utter apologies, confessions, and curses. But as the days spread out more and more, his words disintegrated into something that resembled only one syllable, over and over again.

At first his only desire was revenge, to slay those who had wronged him and avenge her. But like all living things, he grew weaker in the time without water or food, and his valiant pride stretched as thin as his frame, morphing into something frail and cowardly. Now, he had only one prayer- that perhaps she could forgive him for what he had done, and forgive him for giving in.

Ben rolled onto his back, the radiation’s hot embrace invisibly digging into the deep cracks of his skin.

Perhaps this was just, turning to dust alone in forgotten sands. Perhaps he deserved an ending like this. Ben certainly didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to fight anymore either. He _couldn’t_ fight anymore. He was hallowed out, as if his soul and mind harmoniously died when they struck her, when he watched her crumple on the ground lifelessly. When he _failed_ her.

He closed his eyes, the mixture of sunlight and blood filling his vision with a bright orange. He tried to think of her. He tried to die.

Suddenly, the brightness was eclipsed, followed by a relieving wave of coolness. He opened his eyes to see that his assault by the sun was blocked by a small, dark silhouette. Small, almost like a child, but then joined by a much much larger shadow, one that surpassed the sun tremendously. Now in the balancing shade, the smaller thing could be detailed. It -no- _she_ was tiny yes but was certainly not a child. Her skin was tanned, probably from years lurking in sun-soaked lands, and wrinkled from time yet soft looking, like if it were capable of a mother’s touch. On either side of her head were round, thick glasses, which amplified her brown stare considerably.

“Chewie, look what we have here,” she stated and cocked her head. The larger, hairy man next to her cocked his head in tandem. “Let’s take him home.”

Ben squinted at the unlikely pair and uttered the only thing he knew how to say anymore.

“Rey,” he exhaled, then let the sweltering heat overtake him.

 

 

*

He woke up to a sudden jolt.

“Eat up, kiddo,” the little, suddenly impatient woman ordered, and reeled her foot back underneath the dusty table, evidence that she must have kicked it in order to wake him.

Ben’s eyes flickered around and absorbed his new environment. Surrounding him were beige walls, with small burrowed pits filled with plants and cans. To his left, a kettle sat idly over a heap of unlit kindling. To his right, the crossed arms of the mountainous, quiet man from before in idle warning. In front of him, a dingy, cracked plastic tray with a puddle of questionable material… and a fork. Ben’s face scrunched. He looked up from the plate to the woman in front of him, then the man to their side, who grumbled and tightened his folded arms.

She followed his eye. “That’s Chewie, my boyfriend,” she introduced. “And I’m Maz Kanata.”

Ben nodded his head slightly, then glimpsed at the puddle of “food” in front of him. His stomach turned. She caught on.

“You can’t save this… _Rey_ girl looking like that.” When he still didn’t move, she narrowed her stare. “Eat,” she mandated with another kick to the table.

Upon hearing her name, Ben felt the hot sear of swelling tears gather the last remaining drops of water in his system. They fell over his cheeks and stained him in pale streaks of clear skin. His body shivered and his shoulders trembled. He attempted to remedy himself by plunging his fingertips into the meat of his thigh and sucking air into his lungs, but his breaths were so uneven and mud-clogged that his body defied him and he began to cough viscously, his gasps eventually turning into hearty sobs.

Maz slipped out of her chair and placed a wrinkled hand gingerly on his thin shoulder. “My child,” she began, “There lies wisdom in many things. Failure. Rage. Longing. _Forgiveness_.” She squeezed his shoulder and his heaving subdued slightly. “All of these things teach us, it is up to you what lessons you take with you. What path you want to take. I can see that you want to save this girl.”

Ben lifted his chin and met her gaze.

“Do you want to take that path?” she asked.

He sniffed and nodded.

“Good!” She smacked his back powerfully and a puff of brown powder bloomed from his shirt, arousing one last cough from Ben’s chest. “Now eat!”

 

 

*

The clicks of skinny heels echoed through marbled obsidian halls as Nava made her way back to her quarters. She reached the door, and cautiously peered around her as she punched in the key code. _Can never be too careful_ , was her constant monologue. She slipped in and upon entering, she shrugged off the alert feeling like taking off a heavy coat, sighing deeply as she breathed in the glorious air of a finished day.

She bent down and unzipped her constricting leather stilettos, kicking them off and letting them fumble haphazardly on the pale floor of her apartment. She flexed her aching feet and began to pad away, only to return and quickly fix the shoe’s stature so that they were pristinely standing upward, as they should be.

She dipped into the kitchen, opening a small fridge and parting through hoards of half-filled paper boxes, looking for something to cure her boredom. Then she heard a muffled grunt in the back room and rose, closing the fridge silently and quietly stalking to the bedroom.

She entered with her hands out, prepared to swipe the mind of an intruder, only to find her favorite intruder rumbling in her sheets. The City’s blue light poured into the room, turning Selah’s scarlet accents into a rich violet. Her wild curls stuck out at an impressive height, a clue that she had been tossing and turning for quite some time. And she was enflamed, but deliciously so.

“Why doesn’t this bitch ever _shut up_? I’d like to get some fucking SLEEP!” Selah cursed loudly as a phantom book leapt from the beside table and thrashed violently against the bedroom wall. She was right, wails and moans could be heard softly seeping through the shared walls.

Selah was wearing one of Nava’s old stretched shirts and by the textures in the soft cloth- _only_ wearing that, immediately spiking Nava’s interest.

Nava placed her hands on the top of the bedroom doorframe and stretched herself like an alley cat. “You’re so beautiful,” she purred teasingly.

Selah, however, wasn’t having it. “If she doesn’t fucking SHUT IT in the next ten minutes I’m going to go over there and cut out her tongue myself!” she seethed.

“Well don’t _break_ the girl Selah, we need her,” Nava reminded dully as she recoiled her arms and closed the distance between them, leaning the tops of her legs on the bed’s edge.

Selah cocked her head slightly. “Oh? Are you growing fond of her?” she quipped.

Nava reached her hand out and cupped Selah’s jaw in her palm. “No, she just reminds me of how we used to be,” she traced her finger across her plump, berry wine lips. “When we were younger… or do you not remember?” she teased.

“I remember.” She blinked slowly. “I was mad with rage. And you were deeply in love with me.”

“I was a fool for it. And I still am.” She leaned down and pressed her lips on Selah’s tenderly, waiting for the slight inhale that she always did when she kissed her like this. She then grew hungrier, her lips turning over hers powerfully, nibbling and sliding her tongue over her teeth. She heard a muffled moan of approval. Nava gave one final bite to her top lip and pulled away, lowering herself down the bed’s edge and kneeling in between Selah’s knees.

“You know, if you’re having trouble sleeping, I can think of a few ways to get you to relax,” she said lowly and nipped at the sides of Selah’s knees, a telltale sign of her intentions.

“Oh?” Selah hummed in approval and slid herself down onto the mangled sheets as Nava’s lips climbed up her thighs. The wailing of the crying girl next-door continued, narrating their activity with a sickly score.

 

 

*

The first month he spent mostly indoors, drinking canned slop as his skin shed the blisters and his hollows began to fill again. He thought of Rey each night.

The second month, he revealed his Force ability to Maz, who decided that he would now be responsible for attaining things that both she _and_ Chewie couldn’t reach or lift. He joined them on their escapades through the hazardous sands, Maz’s lectures detailing each sector of Outland desert. He thought of Rey with every sunken step.

The third month, Maz decided that he was ready to begin strength training. This included helping haul abandoned hovercraft in the dunes, throwing around mountainous piles of scrap metal in their hoard, or even simple actives such as Ben pushing himself off of the ground while Maz counted on his back, or pretending to “fight” Chewie with padded gloves. Most of the time, Chewie kicked his ass, knocking him on the ground after a single hit with airless lungs and fresh marks of broken skin. It was hard, harder than any training he had ever done, and each time he was thrown into the dirt, he wanted to quit. It was only when he thought of finding Rey again that he propelled himself to rise and lift his hands for another fight.

The fourth month, Ben began to look like his old self, yet he felt heavier and more powerful than ever before. He even got one good punch in on Chewie, who’s responding scowl scared him enough to melt his legs and make him fall in the sand. But to his surprise, Chewie smiled proudly and offered a hand, pulling Ben up and smacking him on the back hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. He was being encouraging, Maz said, but Ben was still petrified.

At night, when the sandstorms whipped against their enclosed sanctuary, Ben would think of Rey until he fell asleep. He would call to her, hoping that she could somehow hear his promise, and somehow know that he was going to find her and save her.

In dreams, his training continued. The training, however, felt different somehow. The smell of moving dirt was replaced by stale air and sweat. The baking heat was replaced by cold marble, and the encouragement of supportive companions was replaced with gruesome sounds and startling, familiar voices.

_“HARDER!” they ordered._

_A pleading whimper. A sharp crackle. A deafening silence._

_“AGAIN!” they demanded._

 

In the months that his body strengthened, his mind fortified as well, further detailing this separate world in his head. One night, he dreamt that a sizzling blade was being dragged from his brow to his collarbone, blood pouring into his eyes as animalistic shrieks escaped his lips. A sly voice teased his mind.

_“You have such a pretty face, sweet girl.”_

He shot up in his shaggy cot and patted his own face, searching for a missing slice, for the phantom blood that seeped from a wound that he did not possess. Yet it felt so _real._

_Too real._

It shifted his stomach, and pressed on his chest.

He had to find her, and soon.

 

 

*

The next afternoon, he sat with Maz at the very same table they sat at months ago, though this time he was doubled in body mass and positively _sick_ of canned food. The words stumbled in his mind a few times, and the way that she sat across from him implied that she knew what he was about to say anyway, so he just let them out.

“Maz, I’m ready. I have to find her.”

She sighed. “I know. That’s why I’m taking you back.”

Ben’s eyebrows narrowed, expecting any kind of reply except for _that_. “What? Where?”

“You really think I don’t recognize you, kiddo? I’d know those eyes anywhere. And that chin! You really are your father’s son aren’t you Ben Solo?” She smiled, and his own grin widened.

He stood from his chair and kneeled in front of her, wrapping his large frame around her and squeezing tightly. “Thank you, Maz,” he said. She smiled and patted his turbulent hair, then returned the embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that a family reunion I spy in the distance? ;) And what's going on with Rey? ;) hmmmm I guess you'll have to wait till next time! (sorry, sometimes I think I'm funny) Anyway, I hope you guys liked this update, please feel free to let me know what your thoughts are/questions and things like that. I'm still on Tumblr (Eveningeyes and eyesofemeraldgreen) and Twitter (eveningeyes) and now Pillowfort (still have to set that up.. probably going to be eveningeyes or something quite similar!) if you want to chat <3 
> 
> For the skippers, Ben essentially has a dream that someone (with a familiar female voice) is scarring his face (similar to the canon Kylo scar). This is the final straw that makes him decide to go back to the City to find Rey.
> 
> YOU GUESSED IT FRIENDS, MORE MUSIC. So now we have:  
> 1\. Nightcall by Kavinsky
> 
> 2\. Fly for Your Life by Gunship
> 
> 3\. Disobey by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> 4\. Genesis by Justice
> 
> 5\. My Only Chance by My Toxic Avenger
> 
> 6\. Star Eater by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> 7\. The Plan by Waveshaper
> 
> 8\. Night Train by Code Elektro
> 
> 9\. Modern Technology by Robert Parker & Waveshaper
> 
> 10\. Future Club by Perturbator
> 
> 11\. Humans Are Such Easy Prey by Perturbator
> 
> 12\. Acid Spit by Mega Drive
> 
> 13\. Deep Circuits by Waveshaper
> 
> 14\. Converter by Mega Drive
> 
> 15\. A Monster by Waveshaper
> 
> 16\. Wisdom of Rage by Waveshaper
> 
> 17\. Phantom & Phantom Pt. II both by Justice
> 
> 18\. Love and Madness by Scattle
> 
> 19\. In Dreams by Mega Drive (including rustling leaf noises and peaceful singing so I highly recommend this one for relaxing)


	8. Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kissed you when I saw you,
> 
> Stared deep into your eyes,
> 
> I meant to say I love you but instead I said goodbye." -Shadows by the Midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and thank you for being so patient with me! Your encouraging comments on the teaser (now deleted) were super encouraging and I think I finally have this sucker ready for you guys!! It's LONG, so settle in with a tea and a snack!
> 
> I don't believe there is anything to warn about for this particular chapter, other than alluded death that was mentioned in the teaser and perhaps emotional warfare at the end. But no graphic violence this chapter! (yay)
> 
> Again, thank you to every single reader and commenter, you guys are truly the best! Enjoy <3

            

Ben squeezed his knee as the rackety hover car rumbled across miles of sand. His skin began to dampen underneath the layers of new cloth that Maz gave him before their trip.

_“Certainly can’t bring you home in your old rags”_ she commented. His black clothing was ripped, faded, and packed with dust. And to be perfectly honest, it probably wouldn’t have fit him anymore anyway. Not that Chewie’s brown leather jacket fit all that better. Maz had brought it out from an old chest, claiming that it had belonged to a younger Chewie. Even then though, it snugly clung to Ben’s arms.

_“It’s cold in the City,”_ she said when he tried it on. And she was right, in more ways than one. Ben could feel the grave chill of it creep through his veins as the forbidding skyscrapers came into view through Maz’s windshield. How long had he been accustomed to it? The cold?

He folded his large arms across himself, feeling the shape of a familiar object press back into his chest and the resolution it brought with it calming him. He wondered how cold she could be as the distance between the car and the neon beacons diminished.

 

*

He stepped into the dunes easily, comfortable with the familiar way the sand curled around his shoes. Maz came to stand his side, Chewie at hers, and the three waited. They waited in the glowering sun as the hide covering Ben’s arms turned from hot to scalding, and his black hair smoothed slightly from the absorbed heat.

As the minutes stretched out, Ben was bombarded with the sudden urge to run. _What if they didn’t accept him after all he’s done? After what he almost did? What if they already rejected him?_ He shivered as tingling spikes trickled across the skin underneath his burning jacket.

“Maybe this was a mistake,” he started.

“Shh!” Maz scolded him. She was perfectly unperturbed by the heat, almost if soothed by it. “They’re almost here.” Frustrated but ultimately yielding, Ben adjusted his sunken feet.

As if on cue, the Falcon emerged from the mirage of the City, parting the sands underneath it like a fluttering of water. As it skidded to a halt just feet from them, a bloom of dust erupted, showering the air in microscopically fine salts. From the cloud Ben could make out the shape of a thin, grey topped man as he fumbled from the driver’s seat.

“Now Maz I told you I don’t do that work anymore,” the greyed man said as he slammed the door of the beat up convertible. “So what’s the meaning of—“

They locked eyes. Han’s jaw slacked, then he swallowed, probably in the exact same manner that Ben’s did. He then lifted his finger to say something, but only to drop to his side silently instead.

Ben stepped forward first, his voice edging with hesitation. “Dad?”

Han replicated the gesture, his arms rising from his sides as all doubt washed away with the wind. “Ben!”

In an instant they were in each other’s arms. Han’s body felt frail to Ben, smaller than he remembered, and the realization of his father’s aging made his whole body sink with regret and guilt. Tears stung the insides of his eyelids as he lifted himself from his father’s shoulder.

“Is it too late?” he choked.

“Of course not, come home,” Han squeezed his lost son once more. “Come home.”

 

*

Leia rubbed her hands over themselves and scratched at her fingernails- a terrible nervous habit she developed as a child. She could practically still hear C-3PO reprimanding her to - _“Stop picking at them!”_ -while her mother rushed around the kitchen in her heels, flour on her cheek while she simultaneously baked for Leia’s club group and went over her speech notes for the twentieth time.

_“It is our obligation to stand…”_ Padmé scrunched her nose, hand on her hip. _“Hmm…It is our… duty to stand!”_ She looked at little Leia, who gave a nod of approval while swinging her legs high above the ground in her chair.

Padmé bent down to her young daughter’s level and dusted her plump, giggling cheeks with kisses. _“My smart girl,”_ she praised. Her mother was determined and sharp, yet also warm. She loved many things; her City, her role, her family, but most of all, she loved her children. Leia only hoped to be as strong and loving, to all of her family, though the machines were slowly outnumbering the living. And to top all of that, she had just pushed her closest _living_ family member out of the door.

Han said that Maz was offering something dangerous, and she wished she could have kept the look he gave her when she told him he should go, it was so comically strange. She wasn’t so comfortable with him doing risky deals, in fact she usually tried her best to steer him away from them, but she felt a strong presence in the Force once he mentioned Maz, almost like a resounding hum growing loud in her ear, pushing her heart to beat tremendously fast and her skin to break out in sweat.

What was about this meeting that made her so nervous? Was that even the right way to _describe_ the feeling that enveloped her ever since she practically kicked Han out of the Resistance bunker? Now she was just useless, unable to focus on any task long enough to get any work done, impatiently waiting for her husband to come home, the strong hum still ringing in her ear. It only grew stronger as the time dragged on, and her nails were critically close to completely bare.

A soft blinking of the handheld computer resting next to her pinky silenced the hum completely, and she swiped at its flat screen to see a message from the person she had been sacrificing her nails over.

_Come to the study._

_Han, what?_

_Just come here, please._

Leia carefully yet purposefully made her way to the neglected study of the bunker, a room made for lounging for a group of people and Synths who never had time to lounge. She opened the door to see two tall men, one she always knew, and one she could never forget.

She blinked at him as her jaw dipped slightly, barely registering the warm slide of tears down her cheek, but as her son entered the dim light, she saw him as he was. A strong man, more hesitant than she had raised him, but certainly stronger than the boy who left her all those years ago. His hair was long but his jaw was almost a perfect replica of his father’s, and his eyes, her mothers. Those were now shedding tears as well, as he paced over and scooped her up into his embrace, nestling himself into her shoulder like he did when he was a boy.  
“I’m sorry,” he muttered into her jacket. He repeated it over and over. “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m so sorry.” She just tightened her embrace, hoping to calm his guilted mind.

He slowly lifted himself from her, his eyes heavy with one last pleading for absolution. “Is he here?”

Leia shook her head. “No, he left after it ended. We all thought you were gone.”

Ben’s eyes sunk a little more. Leia cupped his cheek with her palm.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “Why don’t we show you around?”

 

*

Ben’s anxiety wavered as he strode to the common room with his mother’s hand snug in the crook of his elbow.

“Things have changed in the time you were gone. We’ve really grown,” she said with pride. And she was right, the place was bustling almost as busily as the City streets above them. Faces he’d never seen before raced around them like water parting around a river stone, giving respectful nods to Leia before they continued their rushed pace. It was impressive at the very least.

“We’re really close to something big here. Something to finally take Snoke down.”

Ben’s chest tightened. He had briefly forgotten about that harrowing detail in the relief of being home.

When they reached the common room, Leia searched for her small computer and quickly pressed a pattern of buttons onto the flat screen. Within minutes, people started gathering around them, all summoned from her silent message. Bodies filled each inch of the room like blades of grass, soon becoming a thick meadow of various kinds of people, all looking at his mother curiously.

“Everyone, I’d like to introduce my son, Ben. He’s been gone for quite some time, so please, introduce yourself when you can. I know we still have a lot of work to do. But now,” she looked up at him, “I think we’re going to be much closer to freedom.”

The crowd cheered and clapped, evoking scarlet hues from Ben’s ears.

“Alright, now you can get back to your work!” Once she released them, they drained from the room quickly, though some raced up eagerly to greet the newest recruit with genuine smiles and full introductions.

As the crowd began to dissolve, familiar faces and warm arms belonging to both Synth and human welcomed him home. C-3PO made comments ridiculing Ben’s ragged appearance, R2-D2 took no time to offer his secret stash of whiskey for celebration, even K-2SO clapped Ben on the back. It felt like he had never left. Each pair of eyes were amiable, and each pair of arms hugged firmly.

But Poe hugged the hardest.

“Hey, Poe,” Ben coughed, slightly taken back as the short man pummeled into his chest. He held on like that for a while, so when Ben retracted, he felt the need to lighten up. “Is that a grey hair?” he said as he plucked at one of the many luscious strands sitting on Poe’s head.

“What? No!” Poe reached for his hair, but then caught on and laughed, his smile full as he pretended to tackle Ben, who then pretended to flinch in fear.

Poe’s eyes widened momentarily and he reached back to grab a short man with dark skin and drag him to Ben. “This is Finn, my partner,” he beamed. Ben’s eyes widened in turn, never adequately realizing his best friend’s preferences until this very moment, but nonetheless feeling like it was right. He reached his hand out to Finn. “It’s a pleasure,” he said.

Finn took his hand hesitantly at first but once gripped he shook it firmly. “Yeah man, you too,”

Poe’s smile grew even bigger, but it faltered slightly when he started scanning the room. “Where’s BB-8?”

Finn exhaled deeply. “Probably reading those comics and not getting rest like I’d asked.”

Poe laughed and shook his head. “Well, BB-8 is around here somewhere. He’s…” He shared an unreadable look with Finn. “He’s kinda part of the family. But he’d love you I just know it!”

Leia added warmly, “Yes, he’s quite special.”

Ben grinned and nodded gently in agreement.

“Well, I guess we have to get back to work then, huh?” Poe looked to Leia, who agreed silently with a bow of her head. “It never ends, not even if Ben Solo comes home!” he laughed. “Come and find me when you get a chance, Ben. I’ll be in the garage.”

“As always,” Ben agreed and watched as Poe and Finn calmly walked out of the room with the last of the crowd. Ben looked to his mother.

“Can I?”

“Of course, Ben. This is your home. You know where I’ll be."

 

*

His feet carried him autonomously, the memories guiding him throughout the veins of the underground hideout. Past the rumbling cafeteria, the thankfully quiet medic room, the flashy tech lab, the bustling communication center, and finally…

Finally, they carried him into a room meant for a teenager. _His old room._ It had been years, but the doorframe was still an inch too short and the thin air still smelled of hot plastic and dust. Everything else, however, had completely changed. Overlapping movie posters clung to the walls, musical instruments spilled their cords in tight nests on the floor, computer fragments sprawled carelessly over an overcrowded desk, and towers of glossy books were dotted about the room.

Someone else was certainly living here, but who?

Ben approached the most enticing object in the room, careful not to knock over any towers as he stealthily made his way to a bookshelf stuffed with vibrant colors and bolded letters. Ben’s fingers slid across the contents, grazing across comic book titles and vintage hard-backed bindings.

“Oh, uh, hello!” A cheery yet hesitant voice chirped behind him. His cover shattered, Ben whipped around, his ears growing hot as he straightened to his full height. As he connected the voice to the boy in the doorway, he instantly recognized that hopeful look as one given to Rey in the middle of a busy market not so long ago. Yet this one was mangled by scar tissue, as if the skin on the left side of his face was reattached or readjusted.

“So you’re the droid everyone has been talking about.”

“I guess, yeah, that’s me! I’m BB-8.”

“Ben,” he introduced.

“Nice to meet you, Ben.”

The silence they shared began to grow awkward. Both felt like intruders in each other’s spaces, because both were intruders in each other’s spaces.

“This used to be my room, you know.”

“Oh! I uh, I didn’t know! Leia gave me this room when Finn and I joined and well…” he cleared his throat. “We can… share it if you want?”

“That’s okay.” Ben reached into his hair and flashed a half-smile. “Thank you.” He turned to the bookshelf again. “So, you like comics?”

Ben was observing the many titles but could tell that the Droid - _no, Synth_ \- lit up based on the way his voice heightened behind him. "I’m _unhealthily_ obsessed actually!”

Ben’s eyebrows drew together and he looked back to BB-8. “I thought they purged paper editions decades ago?”

“Yeah it’s taken me a long time to find all of them. But they are so worth it!”

“Yeah,” Ben agreed.

He looked around, desperately trying to think of something to say. BB-8 shifted, obviously impaired by the sharpening silence that hung between them. His shoulders crept up to his ears as he tried to continue the conversation.

“If… you want…You can borrow them! My favorites are on that shelf.” He pointed to the spot underneath Ben’s hand.

“Really, I wouldn’t peg you for the uh…” Ben studied the bolded block letters next to his thumb. “ _Space Romance_ type.”

“Have you read them?” BB-8 asked. Ben shook his head. “Oh they’re absolutely BRILLIANT! It’s about two opposing forces fighting across the galaxy and each of them have super cool powers but each side wants to use the powers for different things… anyway _that_ particular trilogy is FANTASTIC it’s about a guy on the bad side who’s job it is to kill the last guy on the good side.”

Ben’s stomach plunged at the familiarity of the tale, but much to his chagrin, BB-8 kept yapping away anyway. “But it _actually_ turns out that the last good guy is a GIRL! And he tries to kill her but she kicks his ass, and they end up falling in love.” BB-8’s synthetic eyes glazed over, as if he were reminiscing on a forgotten dream. “And he tries to be with her, but he messes up, like really really badly…” He leaned back against the doorframe and pressed a hand on his chest as if to sooth his aching heart.“Oh, it hurts, but it hurts so good.”

“And?”

“Huh?”

“Well, what happens?”

“Oh, well, I haven’t been able to find the third edition of that series… so I don’t know. But if it were up to me, I’d say he gets to fix everything and make it up to the girl, and they’d live happily ever after.” The kid walked over and slumped in his desk chair, tipping over piles of junk in the process.

“Don’t you think that’s a little unrealistic?”

BB-8 shot up, his defenses sharpened. “Not at all. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

Ben cleared his own throat, which felt tighter than it had moments ago. “Do you mind if I borrow them?”

BB-8 softened again, as that hopeful look made its second appearance. “Yes of course! Take them and tell me what you think! And if you want you can come hang out any time, Ben.”

“Thanks BB-8, I will.”

Ben smiled at the Synth and left his childhood room, two editions of _Space Romance_ in hand.

 

*

He nestled himself in a corner of the old command room, a dim blue computer screen lighting up the first page of _Space Romance: The Romance Awakens._

“There’s the man of the hour!” A familiar voice exclaimed. Ben hurriedly shuffled the comic away, and found himself in the presence of one of his parent’s best friends, L3-37. She wore her synthetic hair the same as she did when he was a kid, and her face hadn’t aged a bit, the made-mark below her hairline still vibrant, but even then she seemed out of place somehow, _outdated_ almost. It bothered him.

She picked a chair from the other side of the table and rolled it between her long legs. “I thought I’d find you here.”

“It’s good to see you, L3.”

“Are you reading BB-8’s comics?”

Ben flushed, caught in the act. “Oh, yeah.”

“He’s quite spicy isn’t he? I like that kid.”

“I think I do too,” Ben laughed.

He waited for a moment and then cleared his throat. “I, uh, heard about Uncle Lando.”

Her smile faded and her synthetic irises quivered in the blue light. “Yes, I suppose everyone has to find out at some point, right? And how could you have known, with you being gone and all.” He could tell that even though it had been years, the mention of his name still affected her.

Her gaze turned to the row of keyboards in front of them, her mind clearly adrift. “We always knew it would happen, we just didn’t anticipate that it would happen so _soon_.” Ben’s heart faltered, understanding her in a way he never had before.

“Has your mother ever told you about how Lando and I met?”

Ben shook his head.

She smiled lazily, her mind detached and her eyes watching aged memories. “When we first met, the world was a much different place. Your mother and Luke had Droids, their parents had bought them because of some holiday bonus or something. It was a big deal to them, usually they couldn’t afford something so lavish. But they _loved_ having them. They loved them so much that they convinced Lando’s grandmother to buy a Droid as well. Which, of course, ended up being me. And at first it was like working for any other family, I helped his grandmother with house chores, and Lando went to school. And we were friends, as good of friends as you could be with a Droid. But as we grew older, our friendship became something more. We were so scared when we first realized it.” She smiled and dragged her teeth over her lips in remembrance. “At first, we tried to hide it. But then we got lazy and one time your mother found us, sneaking around in the pantry like idiots. And of course we couldn’t lie to her, it was _your mother_ after all, so we told her, and Luke, and all of our friends about what we had, what we _were_. To our disbelief, they accepted us.”

“Soon afterward, all of this,” she opened her hands and waved it over the rows of computers. “Began.”

She sighed. “He told me that I shouldn’t be sad when he goes. That I should continue the fight, and”-she impersonated Lando’s classically smooth cadence-“Tell them about our love as a testimony for what Synths can be capable of.”

A small chuckle escaped both of them and she flashed a quivering smile before fumbling with her hands. “The truth is, when he died, a part of me caved in, and it hasn’t ever been repaired.”

They shared a beat of silence.

She broke her haze to glance up at him. “Cherish those you love, Ben. You never know how much time you have, and how much you’ll miss them until they’re gone.”

He wrapped his hand over her fist. “I will, L3. I promise. Thank you.”

 

*

Pacing to the newer command room, he found his mother discussing something about radio-emitted viruses with an engineer.

“Mom?” he called, as timidly as he used to when he was a child. Yet this time, she immediately turned to him, and upon reading the look he was sure was on his face, released the engineer.

“Yes, Ben what’s wrong?”

“I came here to come home but also for another reason,” he started, unsure of how to continue. “Before _it_ happened, I was with a girl.”

“Rey,” she replied softly.

His breath caught and his eyebrows drew together. “How?”

“Snoke wasn’t the only one keeping tabs on Force sensitives. We needed as many allies as we could get.”

He stammered, processing the new information as quickly as he could before continuing what he came to tell her. “I have to find her. I know she’s out there, and it’s my fault.”

Leia’s face fell, deepening the plummet of Ben’s stomach. “Ben,” she began.

“Ben, I was there.” Poe cut in, walking up to rest a hand on Leia’s shoulder. “At Snoke’s tower. We saw you. Both of you, and, we saw her…”

“No,” Ben cut harshly. “I know she’s alive. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen _her_. In my dreams.”

Leia and Poe shared a glance and an unspoken conversation.

Ben sighed. “She’s in this because of me. She _means_ something to me. I have to do this."

After a long moment, Leia broke the silence. “I understand, but, if they find you?”

“They won’t.”

She wanted to press on, he could tell, but to his surprise, she gave in. “Alright. But, at the very least, wait till morning. Dark things dwell in the night.”

 

*

His dreams were more defined now that he was within City limits. Heavy with intricate, crystalline detail, her field of vision wove within his, like some tender portal between their minds. It would shift, and he could see through her eyes, then suddenly his eyes; he was her and then he was him and then he was the outside air around them, watching over them, protecting them. He watched as his own hand rose and he could almost reach out and touch her, her skin, her hair, her mouth. He expected softness but instead felt scales. Underneath his fingers were ridges, sharp whips of twisted hair and unevenly healed skin. Yet she still leaned into his touch.

_“Meet me where I first said yes”_ she whispered, though her mouth did not move.

 

*

It was just as easy as he remembered to sneak out into the night.

When he arrived, the abandoned apartment building was still littered with glass, rodents, and air thick with settling memories. Ben looked at the winding outside stairwell from the street, and with a deep, reinforcing breath, began to climb. His fingers strummed the bars of the railing like instrument strings and a rusted hum trailed behind him as he ascended.

He could still remember it, her small, warm hand nestled into his, the way her face lit up when he surprised her with his hover car. The confused laugh she emitted and the thunderous wave of emotions it roused in him.

Finally, he pulled himself over the last step and onto the rooftop. The air was crisp with promise of winter, the view exactly the same as it was months ago, all that was missing to complete his memory was… was…

Her. Like a mirage in the night, or a shadow in the City, she was silhouetted against neon light.

Her hair was pulled up into three tight buns, different than how he remembered, but from her profile he could still tell that it was her. She was wrapped in obsidian leather, shelled by padding and dark cloth bandages. She stood stoically, robotically above the City.

All he wanted was to run to her-he saw it again and again in his mind- running, clutching, lifting her, mouth to her neck, whispering his confessions, listening to hers…

Yet his legs remained still. He couldn’t find it in him to move. Because it was her, it was Rey, but not really. It was her as much as it wasn’t.

But he had to try.

“Rey?” he called.

She whipped around, tight wires of hair slapping against her cheeks. Deep crimson ran across her face, the path of eroded skin beginning above her brow and continuing below the stretch of cloth covering her collarbone. Her lips were pulled back, teeth bared, and dominant arm straight as she held out a rod blazing with two lapis beams of light at each end. He knew those clothes. He knew those flames.

His stomach dove as his worst fear materialized.

He watched her as her eyelashes fluttered over her hazel warning, the twin beams sparkling in their reflection. Then her darkened lips reeled back into a slight frown, quivering as they slid.

They stood atop the City in silence, her blue light covering them, reminding them of the paths which led them here, both bathed in neon light and blackened by blood.

Her stare narrowed and her brows raised faintly, her own disbelief seeping through her guarded stance. She lowered her weapon in exchange for a shaking hand.

“Are… are you real?” It almost sounded like the girl he knew.

He nodded and swallowed, still wordless and processing. He reached for her hand, and just as their fingers were about to touch…

“Kira!” A female voice echoed from the shadows below. Her head turned slightly in acknowledgement.

_“No,”_ he mouthed, muted by emotion. She backed away from him slowly, towards the roof’s edge. His feet began to tingle ever so slightly, as if woken from dormant slumber, and he willed them to follow her.

“Rey!”

Her eyes widened and her features twisted. A memorable twist, familiar even, and his shining eyes recognized it. _Fear_. In a flash, she turned and sprinted from the edge, disappearing into a cloudy blue haze. He raced after her, and stumbled as he neared the edge, his strong body giving in and crashing on the rough rooftop.

_No, no, no._

Coldness, sharper than any winter, ripped through his core as the words relayed in his mind over and over. _You’re too late._ He felt a pulling in his abdomen and rapid swelling in his throat.

He wretched and shook as he clenched the ground, sobbing openly and violently as he mourned for her and himself.

_Too late, too late._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *scream-singing* "SHAAAAAAAAADOWS IN THE CITYYYYYYYY I'm a stranger to myself, on these streets I'm someone else...Shaaaadows in the Cityyyyy, like a demon in the dark, come to tear us apart..." Okay, okay, I'll stop now.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was an emotional roller coaster to write, especially that last scene... but I'm pretty content with how it turned out! How many of you saw this coming? :) I'd love to know! 
> 
> Another question for you, do you think that canon-Rey could have been a dark-sider if raised in different situations/found by the First Order instead of the Resistance on Jakku? I like to think that perhaps she could... but then again, she was in a terrible situation for the majority of her life and still chose the light. Either way, I love the idea of a Dark!Rey, and we will get to see what that means in the next chapter. 
> 
> Speaking of which, I will try to keep my posting schedule better than this update (sorry again), but the next one is really emotionally difficult, which means I need to do adequate research as I write and all in all, it may take longer. Sorry again :( 
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, also, I've decided that listing every song I add to the playlist is going to end up being a lot of scrolling for you guys, so I've decided to just list the songs pertinent to the chapter and then the Spotify playlist for you instead <3
> 
> This chapter we've added,
> 
> Space Romance by Waveshaper
> 
> Portal by Waveshaper
> 
> Shadows by The Midnight (aka what I was scream singing earlier lol)
> 
> We Own the Sky Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/gobean82/playlist/0jo341g8riAHT7Dr1vFVyP?si=zdoKFqXMQ8Go0-I8KK7HqA
> 
>  
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING <3 <3 <3


	9. Make This Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! Thank you for your patience with this story! <3 
> 
> So this one is short, but it is dense. And heavy. And triggering. And emotional. It's basically all Kira's POV, so you can imagine what's to come. As always I'm going to give the skippers the warnings/brackets to avoid and a summary in the end notes.
> 
> Violence against women:  
> -Avoid the paragraph right after "but I seem to have been mistaken.” Skip to next scene. 
> 
> Threatening dialogue:  
> -Begins after "Kira dodged it only just." Okay after "She was trying to entice something out of her, preferably fear."
> 
> Self-harm:  
> \- Avoid paragraph that begins with "Frustrated, she slammed her fist..." Okay to read after "Meet me where you first said yes..."
> 
>  
> 
> With that over, please enjoy! <3

                   

 

  
Earlier that day:

*

With a cheerful _ding_ , embroidered elevator doors of Snoke’s new den parted as Kira arrived to her master’s summon. His desk and chair were the only objects visible in the room, the rest wading in a lagoon of chilling darkness. His pen halted at the clicking sound of her heels on the marbled floors, and a weary smile grew on his face.

“Kira,” he sighed in questionable praise.

“You asked for me, Master.”

“Yes. Selah informs me that you’re not meeting her standards in training. Why is that so?”

Kira’s face remained still, though her eyebrows drew slightly together. _You’re not worthy_ , her mind told her. _It shows_. “I’m not as strong in the Force, Master.” His pen lowered gently.

“The Force.” Snoke said as he slowly rose from his leather chair. “And what do you know of the Force, Kira?”

Her eyelashes quivered as her mind warped her back to a jolting train with scratchy cyan seats, and the feeling of a strong hand over hers. Her heart fluttered and then stung as she pushed the memory away. “It… it’s a power that people have that lets them throw things around… and hurt others.”

“A power, yes. The Force can be very powerful indeed.” He pushed in his chair with the slight of his long fingers. “But there is so much more to the Force than that, my dear. You’ve seen it in your time here, how it chooses how to unleash itself in individuals, sometimes in the mind like Nava, or the body like Selah. And you… you are handsomely powerful in both. So powerful, yet almost completely untrained.” He paced towards her, invading her space casually.

“Why, I’ve only seen such raw strength once before, and he kept you sheltered. It… perturbs me,” he charmed as a slender finger lifted to graze her chin. She winced, just barely, but he understood. “Still that fiery spunk,” he said as he recoiled his touch. “The mark of a true fighter. I’d assumed we’d ground it out of you in the months of your residence… but I seem to have been mistaken.”

Suddenly, he snatched her jaw in his claws and pulled it close to his own, spitting hotly at her crinkled complexion. “What is it that you’re still waiting for? Hm? He abandoned you, _sweet girl_. You’ve been _abandoned_ your entire life… Your parents…” He grinned as Kira’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh,” he chuckled. “You didn’t think that they were still alive did you? In the Outlands waiting for their little girl to come home? No, their bones have been turning to sand for years.”

He pushed her away violently, as sharp flicks of water dripped from her jaw and splattered on the marbled floor. She halted, absorbing the motion and the singe of his words.

His final tone was acidic and firm. “Maybe I’m not being clear. You know the repercussions of breaking loyalty, Kira. Don’t make me question yours again.”

 

 

*

She fell for the tenth time that session and let out a frustrated grunt as her body skidded against the cold floor.

“Come ON!” Selah raged. “AGAIN!” she screamed as she vaulted another training bag in Kira’s direction. Kira dodged it only just.

“I should throw you out that _fucking_ window! And you know what? I’ll have the biggest smile on my face as I watch your frail body turn to pink mist when you hit the fucking pavement!”

She was trying to entice something out of her, preferably fear. But Kira only stared at her in response, her chest rising dramatically with the visceral grit of anger and the sting of hot breath.

“Gods, you really are _worthless_!” Selah spat and finally, the levees holding back Kira’s rage shattered, flooding her body with unfiltered power. She shot a hand forward, and searched with her mind’s eye around the room for an object, any object. Punching bags, lifting weights, benches, anything heavy and within reach were latched onto with a phantom grip and slingshot in the redhead’s direction. She was shrieking while it happened, though the sound resembled a wounded animal more than a human.

Selah welcomed the attack, her own dominant hand out forward, pushing through the incoming projectiles with an unseen shield, splicing them in half as they reached her inner space and shattering as they fell around her.

Kira ran out of materials quickly. Selah saw this, and turned around, happily content with her apparent victory.

In a last effort, Kira reached for the rod against the wall, her iron-born replacement for a staff, and in a poetic allusion to their first conflict, ignited its ice blue beams and vaulted it for her opponent. Just before it reached her scarlet-cloaked head, she turned, and Selah’s hand was the only thing that kept Kira’s saber from piercing her.

Selah glowered at Kira, her vibrant eyes full of lethal warning. She then flung the saber like a twig, turning around and storming out of the training room with her middle finger raised high, leaving Kira alone.

In the painful solace, Kira screamed and lurched in Selah’s direction, her body overwhelmed by emotion and exhaustion, finally relieving itself in the form of sound and pressure. When she was thoroughly spent, she crumpled on the ground and wept. Curling into herself, she stayed like that for what seemed like ages, sobbing forcefully as waves of new pain surged in her chest.

Eventually, she tired enough to quiet her sobs, letting the last of her energy drain into the cool floor and her eyes close.

Unmeasurable amounts of time later, she felt the familiar vibrations of approaching heels against her cheek. A sudden rush of panic ran through her until she reached out in the Force and noticed that the signature was not that of her usual tormentor, but her tormentor’s lover, who usually wore her signature with a silent, menacing presence, yet now it was different somehow, maternal almost.

“She’s hard on you because she sees your potential,” Nava said calmly.

Kira unfurled herself from the floor and rubbed her dull shoulders. “There is no potential. I’m nothing,” she muttered.

Nava squatted down on her ankles and knit her hands together. “We were nothing once, Selah and I. Now it’s our home. This can be your home too, Kira, if you want it to be.”

Kira acknowledged Nava’s offer for a moment and felt the taste of it on her tongue, trying to see if she could get used to it. But as it lingered, it soured, and so did Kira’s disposition.

“How can you love her? She’s a monster.” She tried to muster as much bile as she could into the statement.

Nava’s face twisted and she as rose from her crouched stance, her maternal aura shut off completely and was replaced with the sharpest cold Kira had ever felt.

Maybe she was imagining things, but she swore that as Nava rushed out of the training room, she could hear the woman whisper, “Not to me.”

 

 

*

Sometimes, Kira felt like she was floating. It was almost like she was being transported throughout her own timeline; the relentless training with Selah, the violent errands for Snoke, the confusing respite of Nava’s care, all of it blurred together like some foggy lens. And without realizing it she suddenly found herself in front of her bathroom mirror, with no recollection of how or when she had gotten there.

And sometimes, Kira would feel like she was drowning. And yet with no water around her, her throat clenched, and her eyes would become blinded by nothing but images of him. How his bloodshot eyes begged her silently, how the electricity riddled his body, how he screamed in agony at her feet. She failed him, and her mind took sick pleasure in reminding her of this.

Hot fingers gripped the cool porcelain as she dipped her head between her bruised shoulders. Her head felt heavy when she lifted it to gaze into her own reflection. All she could see was her own bloodshot stare, muddled with smudged makeup and dark tears. She could feel the homogenized mixture of anger and suffering as it welled up in her body, stimulating the Force around her. Suddenly, the mirror cracked in a diagonal line, tracing the glass in a fashion similar to her scar.

To the left of the crack, she saw Rey, with those scrappy cloth wraps and her free flowing hair, a girl so soft and weak she was manipulated by a stranger and turned malleable by her own emotions. To the right, she saw Kira, who exemplified what happened when that weak girl was stripped to the bone, leaving behind something ruined, volatile, and abrasive.

Frustrated, she slammed her fist against her twin selves, fragmenting the portrayals of herself in a thousand shards. Returning her gaze to the sink, she watched as the unmistakable red slid down the white curvature, and as the pain crept in, she allowed herself to weep.

 _Meet me where you first said yes_ , a familiar, gentle voice echoed in her mind.

Perhaps it wasn’t right to listen to rogue thoughts, but in that moment Kira felt peace, the first peace since before he died, so she decided to follow the instructions given to her by her own mourning soul, and slipped into the freezing night to find an abandoned apartment… sitting untouched in the City…

 

 

  
Present Time:

*

Ben Solo’s feet could not expel the energy that surged throughout his entire body, no matter how many times he paced in front of his parent’s door. The anxiety- no, frustration… perhaps sickness?- that plagued him would not be ebbed, not while she was alive, not while she was in the care of _them_. He rapped on the thick wall a few more times

When Han opened the door, the rushing (and almost crashing) of his own son startled him.

“Hey, Ben.”

“Dad! Look,-“

“Can this wait until I get some caffeine in me? Your mom has got me hooked on these chai things…”

Ben tried to calm himself, he really did, but his words poured out like unguarded bathwater. “Dad, if I go to her, if I go to,” He took a deep breath and put his hands out in front of him. “ _Kira_ , she will turn. This could be how we win!”

“Ben?” Leia began from behind Han, her hair crumpled from a day in braids. “What’s going on?”

“Mom, she’s alive!” Ben could barely contain the smile that grew as he gripped his mother’s shoulders. “But, she’s different. If I go to her, I can convince her to turn, to join us. Then we’re even with Snoke, and we have a fighting chance.”

Leia’s face showed a flash of excitement, only to be overwhelmed with worry. “Ben, I’m not sure…”

“Your mother and I can’t lose you again,” Han sternly finished for her as he squeezed the space between his eyes.

Ben looked to his mother, the one who he knew understood this kind of duty more than anyone, and he knew that she would do the same for him, without question. He released his hold gently, and straightened himself to his full height.

“She’s in this because of _me_. I have to make this right. And I will, with or without your help.”

He watched her stubbornness soften just in the slightest, paired with a flash of pride in her Force signature. They shared a smile and she nodded her head, a sign of understanding in what he needed to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skippers summary:  
> -Snoke assaults Kira because she winces when he touches her. She's not hurt, but he is aggressive. He tells her that Kylo abandoned her and reveals to her that her parents (who she thought were still alive) are dead in the Outlands. He threatens her before she leaves his room.
> 
> \- Selah threatens Kira by saying she will throw her out of the window (this bit includes graphic and violent language), in order to try to get Kira to use her Force abilities and fight back/train. 
> 
> \- In frustration, Kira hits her hand against a mirror. There is graphic language describing the act.
> 
> I promise it gets better (less angsty) from here on out! <3 Not to spoil anything but the next chapter is going to be a lot of fun to write <3 <3 <3 so hopefully I can get it to you faster than this one. Also, I wanted to say thank you for reading. You guys are truly the best and the fact that anyone still reads this story warms my heart so much <3
> 
> You KNOW we added some songs this time!
> 
> Darkness by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> Pink Mist by Gunship
> 
> Visceral Grit '92 by Mega Drive
> 
> Make This Right by The Toxic Avenger
> 
> Spotify playlist link : https://open.spotify.com/user/gobean82/playlist/0jo341g8riAHT7Dr1vFVyP?si=Ubxxc7XrRECtyZydOQzaWA


	10. Nightcall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This isn’t you, you’re not doing this,” he spat.
> 
> Her head turned to face him directly, allowing the neons of the night to eclipse her scarred complexion, and for the first time he saw in her wild eyes just how much she had, indeed, changed.
> 
> “It isn’t?” she challenged, almost cheekily, her head cocked slightly in amusement. “We spent days together. You know nothing about who I am.”
> 
> OR
> 
> Ben and Kira have a good talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sweet readers. I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a long time, (I know, it's been a long time) but I'm finally getting back into this story with a possible ending in sight! 
> 
>  
> 
> Unfortunately there is triggering material in this chapter including SUICIDE/SUICIDAL THOUGHTS/MENTIONS which I will put "****" before and after the triggering material so skippers can avoid. I saw another writer use this method and I think I may implement it for future use/edit old chapters. What do you guys think? I'll still have a summary at the end as always! 
> 
> Also, BIG THANK YOU to crossingwinter who helped me figure out how to use different fonts for the notebook portion!! It was super confusing for a bit but she made it easy to understand! :D If for some reason you haven't read her stuff before do yourself a favor and read it because it's *great* <3
> 
> Okay, I think that covers just about everything, so enjoy! <3

                  

Over the subsequent passing weeks, Ben would crawl out of his underground bunker as Kira would climb down from her high tower, and they would meet at the place where it all started. Summoned by the memories of their respective voices and past feelings, they obliged to their own personal nightcalls. Some nights were successful, if slight communication deemed success, while others were spent in complete silence.

None was more difficult than the first night.

“You should know I can’t stay for long,” she said. “Nava notices when I’m gone.”

“Okay.” Ben swallowed. He didn’t like the thought of Nava keeping eyes on Rey, but the reserved assassin did spare him in the Outlands, and to be perfectly honest, a close watch from Nava was far safer than any kind from Selah.

Kira’s voice was calm and firm. Practiced. “So, you’re alive after all.”

“Yes.” His own voice was much shakier, more so than he liked, and he could feel the rush of threatening tears, and the swelling of his throat. “Rey,” he started.

She lifted her hand to block his speech. “You’ve been gone a long time. Things have… changed, Kylo.”

His body shuddered at the sound of the old name. “I know.”

Her hand fell slightly, as if her curiosity got the better of her. “So why are you here?”

He sucked in as much breath as he could, but his mind still felt as hazed as the pollution clouds around them. “My name, my _true_ name is Ben. There’s not much to tell other than the fact that I’m back now-home, actually, with the Resistance.”

Her lashes barely flickered around her widened gaze, yet she said nothing. A gentle snow began to fall around them, catching the colorful lights beautifully, like shredded bits of rainbow floating in the grey night.

“My mother is their leader, and we can provide a shelter for you. A home of your own!”

Still no response. A hover car whirred above them, perhaps too low for legal standards, and Ben crouched instinctively as the belly of it zoomed past his head. Kira, of course, remained as unmoved as the building they were standing on. The only things that reflected the event were the strands of hair at the sides of her face and the snowflakes, both dancing freely in the artificial wind.

He straightened himself, slightly embarrassed by his reaction to common City happenings. He supposed he had been gone for a while. “Please, Rey, come with me.”

“Don’t call me that.” Kira paced towards the icy roof’s edge, placing a thumb in her mouth.

Ben felt his heart begin to gallop as her immediate rejection fueled his temper. “What, your name?”

“I’m not that stupid girl anymore!” she said to the light dazzled horizon, the sterility of her practiced tone completely gone.

“Yes, I can tell you’ve really matured. Still being led astray like a sheep.” His tone was sullen, darkened by words he didn’t mean to say.

“Shut UP!”

He searched her back with his eyes, waving a hand over her new leather-clad form with disgust. “This isn’t you, you’re not doing this,” he spat.

Her head turned to face him directly, allowing the neons of the night to eclipse her scarred complexion, and for the first time he saw in her wild eyes just how much she had, indeed, changed.

“It _isn’t_?” she challenged, almost cheekily, her head cocked slightly in amusement. “We spent days together. You know nothing about who I am.”

“I know enough-“

“You _tricked_ me!” she shouted, her anger fully breached. She pointed at the looming DroidTech sign in the sky with her outstretched hand. “Presented me to him like I was some fucking _offering_!”

“I made a mistake. Rey, I’m sorry.”

“I’M SURE YOU ARE!” She stomped away from him, spun on her heel and fumbled over crossed legs, curling into herself on the icy rooftop and burying her face in her hands. Ben inched closer to her, careful not to cause alarm, and sat himself down in a similar fashion. The ground was frustratingly cold, lapping at his body heat like a dog, and he wondered how she could be so used to it.

They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, the only sounds being the ambience of honking vehicles, drunk laughter, and distant clubs. He wanted to say something, anything that could potentially remedy the mess he had made, but nothing felt right. Nothing felt like _enough_. So he hoped that sitting with her could be enough, if just for now.

Finally, her head rose from her hands, and Ben’s stomach jolted when he noticed that they were wet with more than just tears. She looked up at him, revealing bloody halos around her hazel irises. And in a broken voice, she asked, “They were dead the whole time, weren’t they?”

Ben sighed, the weight of his secret pulling his stomach further down. “Plutt told me within five minutes of his… interrogation.”

“Sick bastard,” she muttered. Ben wasn’t quite sure if she meant Plutt or him, but he was sure they both deserved the title.

“Rey, listen to me,” he began as he absently laid a hand on her knee.

“No, NO, I’m through with this,” she said with a scratched voice as she sprung to her feet and darted towards the roof’s edge at full speed.

“Hey, wait,” Ben fumbled over his long legs.

She halted suddenly and turned back to him. As snow cascaded behind her, neon cascaded over her, blackening the scar that tore down her face, and in that moment he swore her hazel eyes were almost _glowing_.

Her head shook slightly. “We have both made mistakes. You pretended to care for me. And I was foolish enough to think you could.”

“Rey!” he called as he struggled to stand.

She hopped off the roof, vanishing silently into the grey abyss below, worrying him momentarily, only to reappear in a beam of blue as her hover cycle revved above him, shooting upwards and into the dark night like a blazing star.

Ben watched the pale blue glow dissipate, and shamed himself for giving into his anger.

 

 

 

*

On the night of their second encounter, he wasn’t even sure if she’d show. Everything was slick and iced- a rainstorm too warm for snow but still frighteningly cold froze over every surface, leaving danger with every step. She did show, however, and she brought a multitude of weapons with her.

“Rey, I wasn’t sure if- Whoa!”

He barely dodged the throwing knife as it raked off a piece of his hair.

“What are you, HEY!”

More objects hurled dangerously past his locks.

“Rey what the fuck!”

She kept throwing things as she advanced towards him, her complexion tense and her scar cherry-red. When the knives were gone, she searched for scrap metal covered in ice. And when the scrap was gone, she reached for her lightsaber.

Finally finding his instincts, he threw a hand forward and met the force of her attack with his own. She growled throatily at his quick defense. Yet he pushed on, pillowing himself and the area around him with an unseen shield and stifling the blades of light in her staff-like weapon.

She didn’t want to hurt him, he could tell, because her attacks felt winded and hesitant, like she couldn’t tell if that’s really what she wanted. Exhausted, she huffed dejectedly and ceased her attack with a flick of her wrist.

Her extinguished lightsaber clanked and clattered harshly on the rooftop.

She began to charge him, yet stopped as soon as she reached an arm’s distance away. She blinked hazily, her languid stare lingering below his nose for just a moment too long. When she realized her mistake, her delirium disintegrated and hot anger reinforced itself within her.

Her fist shook as she pointed up at him. “I still don’t trust you!”

Satisfied, yet still a bit scared, Ben was surprised at the calmness of his tone. “I know.”

She huffed again, even more dejected in his lack of reaction. “Okay then. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight.”

She hopped off the roof, and Ben blinked at the dark locks of his hair that circled his feet, absent-mindedly patting his mane to check for virility.

 

 

 

*

When he arrived the next night, she was already there, slouching on the edge of the rooftop with her feet dangling into open air, rhythmically, as if she had a tune stuck in her head. The cold was still sharp, but tolerable.

“Rey?”

She turned her head casually, his presence not affecting her cadence in the slightest. She patted the roof next to her, and he sat down facing her, one leg dangling in tandem with hers, one safely tucked under the ledge.

“You’re different,” she said.

“How so?”

Her half-lidded eyes traveled over him leisurely, sending pulses of heat under his jacket.

“It _is_ weird to see you wearing something other than black, honestly.”

He adjusted the brown leather coat that barely kept him from succumbing to the cold. “It’s my father’s.”

“Ah.” She dipped her head back and smiled. Her feet continued their delightful swinging.

“What else?” He was genuinely curious now.

****  
“Well, you’re warmer now, or at least warmer than you used to be. It’s weird, but… nice. I’m still trying to figure out if you’re real,” she peeked over the edge of the rooftop, to the rivers of light and machine below. “Or if my mind has finally unraveled for good.”

Ben watched her gaze linger below, and the slight way that her body leaned forward. His heart raced in his chest and in an urgent stunt to stop her drifting, he reached for her hand.  
****

“I’m real,” he choked, the coming of words too fast for his lips. He covered her hands with his own, and felt how cold she was. Maybe she did feel it after all. Maybe she didn’t care.

She shriveled instinctively, pulling away from his touch, but he kept her trapped in a cage of flesh. She stared at their entangled fingers, blinking widely, and her darkened lips distanced themselves from each other.

Ben grasped tighter, pressing his warmth into her slight digits. “I’m real, Rey. I’m real,” he murmured softly, over and over, while leaning in on his own accord, closer to her parted lips with each reassurance. _Maybe this would be enough_ , he thought.

He heard the unevenness of her breathing as his eyes began to close. _Maybe she wants this too._

Fooled with the sporadic way that her warm exhales tickled his skin, he mistook the source of her tension for something else.

“I… I can’t. I just.. I just can’t,” she whispered, an inch away from his lips.

“Rey.” He felt himself begin to crumble.

She pulled back and met his worried gaze with water. “Please let go.”

Unable to capture her unwillingly for any longer, he obliged. She shot out of reach in an instant, as quick as a light turning out. When he watched her leave, he absentmindedly cupped his abdomen, as if it would somehow alleviate the sinking feeling that burrowed within. The forgotten object nestled in the inside pocket brushed his touch, and he let out held breath, knowing that not all hope was lost.

 

 

 

*

Kira locked up her hover cycle with a twirl of her fingers, hearing the soft hum of its engine while it floated at the roof’s edge. She adjusted the saber staff slung around her shoulder, checking that the strap was not tangled or that the safety latch was engaged. This time, she would set things straight. She would tell him no, that it was too dangerous to meet like this, and that they could never escape Snoke, not even with a fully formed resistance. She certainly would _not_ let him touch her again either, would not subject herself to another night’s torture due to his phantom contact, not allow herself to crave it like she had. Not tremble when he said her name like that. Not like the stupid girl she used to be would have. She had evolved into something else, was _someone_ else now, and whatever she turned into deserved to stay exactly where she was. Even if it was within Snoke’s scaly grasp.

Climbing over the edge, she found him looming a few feet in front of her. His signature flowed of dark warmth and comfort, like summer’s earth or malted coffee. Like an everlasting furnace, his presence edged the discomfort of the City’s cold months. Despite this warmth, his profile remained stern, his strong jaw tensing and brows settled in their ever-worried furrow. She tried to keep her defense strong, but like always, it swayed when she looked at him. When he finally returned her gaze, her knees threatened to give.

Her next words were so hard to push out, they almost strangled her. “I don’t think I can meet with you anymore. I think Nava knows. A-and if _she_ knows that means Selah knows, and if Selah knows, oh, God…” The thought stilled her, the imagined sight of Selah’s wrath so petrifying that her once strong confidence crumbled around her feet.

“Rey, I-”

“If they find out what I’ve been doing… that you’re _alive_?!” Suddenly, quick breaths couldn’t possibly gather enough air.

“Rey,”

“They-they, oh God,”

“REY!” he erupted.

“ _What?!_ ” she countered.

“Can I just say something, _please?_ ”

He stepped closer and held out his hand, almost like an offering. She stared at it, realizing that he wasn’t wearing gloves, and in her mind she was taken to a time when he held her hands on a night train, teaching her how to use the Force, and how deliciously warm they were then. How they would compare now, she had no idea. She just wanted to know what his touch felt like again.

When she didn’t answer, he opened his hand wider.

She nodded, mindlessly enraptured by his ungloved gesture.

That strong chin of his quivered slightly as he prepared himself, yet his voice kept strong and clear. “All of this… this… _bullshit_ , let it all die. Kill it, if you must.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t belong to them! You never will!” he blurted.

She scowled and straightened her posture, instantly offended by his truth and the acidity of it. She cleared her mind, allowing the emotional distance to protect her like an armor.

After realizing his mistake, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth once more.

“What I’m trying to say is you do belong somewhere. You could,” he swallowed, “Be with me.”

His words cracked her armor in patterns that resembled the aged cement around them. “What?”

“For so long I felt so lost, like I was meant for nothing but to cause pain, endlessly swirling down one of those grimy drains of this shit-stained City.” He worked his jaw and pressed his lips together. A quick glance at the hand by his side, Kira saw it was balled in a tight fist. “Following the commands of someone I once looked up to, someone who told me I could do great things, yet all I found was darkness,”

Darkness, and disappointment. Yes, she grew to know those things well in her time under Snoke’s reach. That, and the relentless, unforgiving pain of it all. The violence, the greed, the cold and how could be so painfully sharp, even paired with the heat of fresh blood. How it didn’t matter how many you killed, or how much you suffered, you still were not enough.

Growing numb would be a blessing.

“Until I found you, of course,” he whispered, his eyes shining with a brightness she’d never seen in him before. “You were so different, so full of fire and hope, you challenged me.” He chuckled and rubbed his neck, as if relishing in the memory. “You made me want to become someone else, someone _better_! And it was too late, but I realized that along with all of this, I was falling deeply in love with you.”

She felt the familiar sting as warm water filled her eyes and hazed her view of him.

"All of the things that drew me to you, I’m still drawn by them, by you! Whether you’re Rey or Kira or whoever, I still want you. I still love you.”

She exhaled sharply.

“So please, if you feel the same, say you want me too,” he breathed.

A mudded tear slid down her cheek, and sank into the groove of her scar.

They stood there like a picture in motion, all of the hyperactive lights and raging sounds of the City completely eviscerated, as if projected into the void and leaving only two strangers standing on a rooftop.

He sniffed and cleared his throat, suppressing something within, and reached inside of his jacket.

“Well, I kept all of them. Here.” His hand reappeared to bring out a small notebook, which was ripped and crushed in places as if it had seen much more than the inside of an old leather jacket. His shaky hands flipped it open and handed it to her. Inside, Kira saw pages riddled with scrawls of their old names, and her slight fingers danced over their written conversations.

 

 

 

Kylo, you have poofy hair.

Rey, you eat without humility.

Where will you go when it’s over?

I'm not so sure.

I’m not so sure either.

I'm glad you're here.

You wouldn't get far without me.

I'm scared of being alone.

You're not alone.

Neither are you.

The last words confirmed what she knew all along, what she was so afraid of when she saw him, shattering the emotional shelter she locked herself in as her heart screamed to her the truth. _This is where you belong._

“It is you!” she gasped as she let the book fall from her hands and ran to him, practically jumping into his warmth as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he wrapped himself around her small frame. They fell together on the rooftop in a heap.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear as he kissed her hair.

“I was so scared. I thought it was my fault, that you were gone because of me,” she cried into his jacket.

“I should have told you, I shouldn’t have let him touch you,” he wept, holding her tightly against him.

“Please,” she sobbed. “Please don’t leave again!”

“Never, you’ll never be alone again.” He kissed her hair and the skin that met it on her forehead. “Never.”

She lifted herself so that she could stare into his eyes again, to fall into their bottomless depths and let his strong warmth soothe her. His thumb grazed her cheekbone, and she leaned into the touch. Her gaze slid down to his pillowy lips, red from nervous biting and the chill. His gaze must have traveled to her lips as well, because now his thumb was grazing her bottom lip and turning her chin ever so forward.

Whether he initiated the kiss or she did Rey couldn’t tell, the only thing she could manage to think about was how heavenly his lips felt on hers, the taste of him and how sweet it was, and the feeling of his soft hair between her fingers. They slid over each other, their mouths and noses and skin, melting into one another like holograms, as if the boundaries of Rey and Ben were no longer tangible, replaced by a mixing of something _good_ , something _better_ than what they were before. Their faces were wet with their kissing and their tears, yet neither of them cared, for their only motivation was each other.

And when they ran out of breath, she curled herself into his chest, where she knew she was safe, and let the long-lost peacefulness coax her to sleep.

He held her firmly to encourage her serenity, and spent the night staring out into the Cityscape, placing a confirming kiss on her crown every so often, like a reminder to her and himself. He continued to hold her through the night, until eventually sleep called for him as well.

 

 

 

*

When the rising sun stretched itself over the City and began to burn off the late night’s chill, they were still snuggled together, entirely at peace, and completely mindless of anything but each other. The rays of sun hit Ben first, warming his dark hair pleasantly, though it was painfully bright. He looked down and was surprised to see that he in fact did _not_ dream the night before, that she was fast asleep and curled into his chest with a familiar, natural smile resting on her face.

“Rey?” he asked softly, unsure of how she would react to the name now.

Dazed, her eyes slowly blinked open, and when she looked up at him, she nodded warmly. “Ben?” she inquired, adjusting to how the name felt on her tongue. He nodded and smiled as a stray tear fell.

“Ben, what do we do now?”

He petted a large hand over her head, wiping her hair from her face that had gathered in the night and bending down to kiss her scar. She closed her eyes and embraced his touch. His eyes, however, locked on the bright DroidTech signs above them.

“We fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some FLUFF!! Hahah <3 
> 
> For my skippers, at the second meeting, Kira is convinced that Ben is a figment of her imagination, and teases with the idea that she's going to jump off of the rooftop. He stops her by putting his hand on hers. 
> 
> We are rapidly approaching the final act, which will probably take me a while to get *perfect*, so please be patient with me! I promise I think about this story every day, and I have a bunch of ideas that may be fun to add, so stay tuned! Thank you as always for your support, it really makes my day! <3
> 
> Songs from this chapter:  
> Nightcall by Kavinsky - THE song of this fic, I almost called it Nightcall before I figured that We Own the Sky would be a better fit haha. Even though it features so late in the story, it's the first song on the Spotify playlist because it is the perfect theme for the mood of this fic. An absolute classic!
> 
> Say It (feat Tove Lo) by Flume - A song with words?! What is this dark magic? Haha I just really enjoyed this song when I first heard it and I think it pairs well for this chapter. The reference is very hidden (it's easy to write the word "say" in a fic hahaha)
> 
> A Picture in Motion by Waveshaper- A BEAUTIFUL song that I thought worked perfectly for the scene. Highly recommend.
> 
> Holograms by M83- Another gorgeous song that I thought would be beautiful for the kiss scene.
> 
> And if you want to check these out as well as the rest of the songs, here's the Spotify link : https://open.spotify.com/user/gobean82/playlist/0jo341g8riAHT7Dr1vFVyP?si=Aqc-2dxpRtmqD8lIYsxzFg
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


	11. To Sudden Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As winter in the City subsides, the Resistance holds a meeting, BB-8 visits old friends, and Ben and Rey savor their time before the final strike against DroidTech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I hope you are doing well :) This time I have a very (long) exciting chapter for you guys, and I hope you enjoy it! Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story!
> 
>  
> 
> Before we dive into it, there is one thing. Though there isn't any explicit violence in this chapter, there *is* somewhat explicit sex ;) and I've kept it pretty close to an M rating instead of an E rating, but I figured that I should give ample warning beforehand. If you would like to skip it, I would skip after the paragraph that begins with "Laughing still," and pick up again at "We could stay here forever". I'll summarize in the end notes like usual! 
> 
> That said, let's get to it! Enjoy <3

Over many weeks, the sting of winter’s shadow was soothed by spring’s reappearance, her warmth waking the sleepy City with thunderstorms and fresh blooms. It was a time of gratitude as much as a time to remember that work still had to be done. 

 

The Resistance, however, never forgot about their work. They buzzed fervently underneath the City’s sidewalks all throughout winter and rushed now more so than ever. 

 

The space in the halls was electric with energy as recruits readied a year’s worth of work for Leia’s uprising, yet most of them had no idea as to what the actual method of taking down DroidTech would be.

 

In fact, most of the higher in command didn’t know either.

 

Meetings in the Resistance were common, though more often they would be private conversations with the General herself, rather than everyone all together at once. So when Ben asked his mother to call a meeting with everyone, she was hesitant. Understandably so, but things were different now. Time was running out, and they were nowhere near ready.

 

Rey had said something once during one of their stolen nights together. Her face was nestled into his chest, trying to escape the cold, and she murmured about Snoke’s plan, speaking of it in a way that meant it was coming soon. Ben knew of Snoke’s ultimate scheme already, a City-wide takeover powered by the products that people happily welcomed into their homes, their businesses, their jails. The City dwellers took in the Synths as their property, completely unaware of the real loyalty that lie deep in their programming, and how devastating it would be when the tide finally turned. 

 

If the Resistance was going to take a stand, it would have to be now, while they still had a chance. 

 

After a decent amount of rearranging, the common room was turned into a space large enough for all of the agents of high rank. Leia, of course, sat at the head of the table, Ben and Poe at her sides, followed by Finn, BB-8, and L3. Across from them sat R2-D2, C-3PO, and K2-SO4. An untrained eye would guess that Han was absent, but those closest to him knew that he lurked somewhere in the shadows, still persistent in his claim that he “wanted nothing to do with politics” but never out of earshot. 

 

Everyone settled in their seats, which were nothing more than cracked office chairs, and avoided eye contact with one another expertly. The truth was, they had no idea what to do. Ben was about to begin a speech about courage and hope when thankfully a Synth with short silver hair and bright cobalt eyes spoke first.

 

“So, how are we gonna blow up this tower?” R2-D2 asked delightedly. 

 

The golden-haired Synth sitting next to him scrunched up in a twisted grimace. “Are you _serious_?”

 

“Kill one, save a thousand?” R2 joked.

 

“More like killing thousands save whatever dust pile is left over! I highly disagree with this. General?!” protested C-3PO.

 

Leia straightened in her seat. “No, absolutely not. Snoke’s tower is in the center of the City. Destroying it would be catastrophic. This mission is about freedom, not violence. If we use violence to defeat Snoke, then we are no better.”

 

R2 shrugged and sank into a relaxed position. He pushed his wide-rimmed glasses further up his nose and whispered under his breath, “Fuckin _narc_.”

 

3PO almost jumped out of his seat. “I beg your _pardon_?!” A sliver of rich gold hair fell out of place and hovered over his faintly tan forehead. 

 

R2 chuckled and ran a hand over his freshly cut silver mane. “You heard me _chrome dome_!” 

 

“It is against my programming to participate in such vulgar… and I am constructed of GOLD you little-“

 

Ben cleared his throat, silencing the bickering Synths, who huffed and jeered. 

 

Poe spoke next, eager to get the conversation back to the topic. “Alright, so no violence. What are we going to do instead?”

 

Silence ensued, and suddenly everyone preferred when the Synths were spewing nonsense at each other.

 

“What about… a virus?” BB-8 added timidly.

 

All agents turned to the young Synth, the look on their faces asking a collective ‘ _What now_?’

 

“What kind of virus BB-8?” K2-SO4 asked calmly, his monotonous voice sounding the most gentle Ben had ever heard it.

 

“Something…that could free the Synths.” He sighed. “I don’t know…”

 

Finn put his hand on BB-8’s shoulder. “No no, hold on, you’re on to something.” He turned to the rest of the table. “What if we designed a device that could play with the behavioral switches… let’s say, network-wide…and turn off conditioned loyalty? Let the Synths make their own choices!” He squeezed BB-8’s shoulder, and a hopeful smile bloomed on the young boy’s face. 

 

L3 folded her arms. “Who would even make such a thing?” she queried. 

 

Poe jumped in excitedly. “We know a guy!” Then he quickly corrected himself under Finn’s sharp glare. “Well, a gal. A couple of gals, actually. Very talented.” 

 

R2-D2 patted his hands on the table and rubbed them together. “Okay! So let’s say we get the virus to shut everything down…what happens to Snoke?”

 

“In that particular case, I’ll permit violence,” Leia said warmly and winked at R2. 

 

He bowed his silver cap in gratitude. 

 

Ben couldn’t help but intervene. They weren’t taking this seriously enough. “Okay but he’s not alone, you know,” he said a little too loudly. “He has at least two guards with him at all times, both expertly trained and extremely dangerous. Trust me, I know them well.” He looked to Leia, whose worried eyes sent a shiver down his spine, and cleared his throat before continuing. “On top of that, Snoke’s technology is very capable. A virus could never get past his online blockades.”

 

BB-8 interjected. “But what if we implanted it ourselves?”

 

“How do you mean?” Leia asked.

 

“Well, I mean Rey. She could do it for us… right, Ben?”

 

Another shiver. “I don’t know… she’s constantly being watched…”

 

“And can we really trust her?” Finn added.

 

Ben flinched, his jaw tensing as anger bubbled in his core. “What are you _implying_? She’s on our side now.”

 

Finn glanced around the table before locking eyes with Ben. “But are you sure? I mean we can’t risk everything we’ve worked for over someone who has spent the last year with the enemy.”

 

Ben leaned forward in his wheel-less rolling chair. “I spent over a _decade_ with them, and yet I’m here, with you. Rey is on our side,” he growled.

 

“You said that already. Why isn’t _she_ here to say it for herself?”

 

Ben fell silent, his tightly wound fist squeezing in on itself, and the air reverberated with something powerful and heavy.

 

It wasn’t until Leia put her hand over his that the air finally stilled. “Ben. I’m sorry, but he’s right.”

 

Another silence, thick with frustration and hushed breath fell over the room like a blanket.

 

Until, of course, Poe’s hand leaped into the air. “Wait, what if that’s exactly what we need?” He turned to BB-8 and Finn. “I’ve got an idea!”

 

* * *

 

BB-8 stood in front of the two engineers who saved his life all of those months ago, their stern mouths covered up by perfectly manicured hands, and their trained eyes searching each other for answers. 

 

“Could we do it?” Rose asked hypothetically.

 

“Of course we could do it!” Kaydel answered dispassionately, offended by the notion that they possibly couldn’t.

 

“We could do it in our _sleep_!” Rose exaggerated, pressing her fingers to her thumb to further articulate her point. 

 

“Damn straight!” her blonde partner shouted.

 

Rose turned on her heel, towards the window. “But the real question is…”

 

And Kaydel turned to BB-8. “Are we _going_ to do it?”

 

Rose’s voice was soft from the window. “If it fails…”

 

Kaydel crossed her arms as her tone dipped an octave lower. “The Resistance won’t be the only ones punished.”

 

Rose turned around to gaze adoringly at Kaydel. “Took the words right from my mouth!”

 

They beamed at each other and then stared expectantly at BB-8.

 

“Ladies, ladies…” He cautiously walked up to them, snatching each of their shoulders under the crook of his arms. “Look. This is dangerous, of that I’m absolutely certain. But it’s also important. I mean, look at me!” He freed them temporarily to twirl slowly in front of them, waving his arms over his physique. “You guys took me in when I was basically frayed wires and computer chips and healed me anew.” When they didn’t respond, he added, “And did a damn good job of it too!”

 

When they giggled in synchronicity, he took them underneath his wings again and guided them to the window, where the bright DroidTech tower shone down on them from above. 

 

“There are thousands of Synths inside that tower. And just like me, they need your help.” He backed up again, letting them ponder to themselves for a moment before asking, “So, will you do it?”

 

They started at each other with unreadable looks on their faces. Then, as in-sync as everything else they did, they nodded once and turned towards BB-8.

 

“We’ll do it,” they said together.

 

* * *

 

From outside the computer shop, Ben, Finn, and Poe watched as BB-8 giggled with the girls.

 

“Looks successful enough. Must have gotten that from you, Poe,” Ben said as he started walking the path back to the street. The last remnants of snow sloshed underneath his boots as he walked away.

 

Finally realizing what was meant, Poe perked up with a confused expression, about to protest, but Ben was already halfway up the block. His shocked glance landed on Finn, who just laughed and kissed his glove. “Come on, BB-8 will catch up later,” he said while tugging on Poe’s hand, and they followed Ben’s lead while helping each other not to slip on the wet sidewalk.

  


* * *

 

 

BB-8 lingered in the computer room, only hours after the entire Resistance met to figure out what the hell they were going to do to take DroidTech down. His fingers grazed over the keyboards and electrical wires until a hot snap of electricity ran up his index. He grimaced and shook his hand out, offended and surprised all the same.

 

A reminder that he was still made of metal. 

 

And yet, despite that, he had always felt like something more. Even in the behavioral unit, with Finn, what seemed like such a long time ago, he had related more to the stubborn man with the laughable shoes than to any of his Synth comrades. He knew he was different, that he was something more, and that the Synths could be something more, too.

 

What if these Synths didn’t know it? What if they wouldn’t believe him?

 

“Something troubling you, Agent?” spoke a warm, even voice from behind him. BB-8 spun around and saw the Resistance leader herself, leaning against the doorway.

 

“What if they don’t want to be free?” he asked.

 

Leia walked towards him, her gaze knowing and calm, and as she took his hands in hers, her touch was warm.

 

“What’s important is that they have the choice and that their choice is theirs alone. Should they want to stay, we have to respect that.”

 

“They’ll die if they stay with him,” BB-8 whispered.

 

She paused. “Yes.”

 

“How do I make them change their minds? The ones who won’t leave?”

 

“You can’t,” she sighed. “But what you _can_ do is offer insight.”

 

“On what?”

 

She smiled and looked at him with fervor in her eyes- the same look that for many years, provided hope for an entire Resistance.

 

“On what it’s like to be free.”

 

* * *

 

On a forgotten rooftop in the middle of the City, Rey and Ben found themselves doing what they often did when they snuck out to see each other: kissing.

 

They were still learning how to kiss properly. He would lean down too much, or not enough, or maybe exactly when she would lift herself up on her toes, and their noses would bump into each other. Or sometimes their teeth would clank and she felt embarrassed. Or maybe they would be kissing and she’d forget to move her hands. 

 

And sometimes, though it was still rare, she was overcome with the fear of being touched, and they wouldn’t kiss at all.

 

But that fear was long forgotten now. When he arrived, he gave her a short peck, their special way of greeting one another. She preferred the longer ones, but the short ones felt oddly romantic, _domestic_ even, as if they could forget who they were for a moment and pretend they were a regular couple. A real couple.  

 

They sat on the roof’s edge together, facing each other with one leg dangling over the City. 

 

His kisses were soft, cautious yet passionate, and addicting. Each one ended with the drive to reach for another, but she had to catch her breath because she needed to ask him something.

 

“Ben?” she breathed once she had stolen enough air.

 

“Hmm?” His lips moved down towards her chin, then hiked up her jawline to her ear.

 

“Are we out of time, then?” Her question was serious but sounded softer when accompanied by the giggles she made as he licked her earlobe. 

 

“Not yet. We probably have a few hours… until they finalize the device…” he trailed off, still trying to silence her with his own lips.

 

She pushed him back slightly. “We could die tomorrow…”

 

He stilled. She knew that this realization hurt him terribly, but it was the truth. “Yes.” He pulled her close, either to hold her again or more likely, to hide from her the sorrowful expression that must have formed on his face.

 

“I love you, Ben," she said into his chest.

 

“I love you, too,” he said over her crown.

 

She had to ask him something else, but as much as her mouth moved, the words just wouldn’t materialize. Her sorry attempts were muffled by his jacket. “I… I want… agh.”

 

“What?”

 

“There’s something I want… something I need from you. I just… oh, never mind.” She tried to burrow her face into the thick leather, but he pulled back and leaned slightly to lock his gaze with hers. 

 

“You can ask anything of me, Rey, I will never refuse you. Never again.”

 

She opened her mouth again, her eyebrows furrowing in focus, but then she gave in to her own cowardice and just kissed him again. He didn’t seem to mind the interruption, in fact, he was quite focused on her because he didn’t notice her hand snaking up his thigh until it was already firmly gripping his hardness.

 

Surprised, he broke the kiss- “Uh, Rey?”

 

“Is this okay?” Her voice was shaky.  

 

He scoffed, “It’s more than okay, but are-“

 

Her eyes shied away. “I’ve never done it before, and I want to… try… before tomorrow.” She looked up, into his warm, full-blown eyes. “And I want it to be with you.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Her other hand reached up to caress his face. “Surer than anything in my life. Please.”

 

He kissed her. Fiercely. “Well, in that case…” he murmured against her lips and then continued kissing her. Eager, she reached for his belt, tugging at the metal buckle. He broke the kiss again, and she couldn’t help but let out a defiant, pouty moan. 

 

“We really should be on a bed…or something,” He was determined about this, she could tell in his voice.

 

“Does it matter?” She pulled on the metal buckle again, but he caught her hand and squeezed it.

 

“I think so… so that you’re comfortable…so that it hurts less.”

 

Ah. right. _That_. She had forgotten about that detail. Glancing down at their joined hands, particularly his _fingers_ and how _robust_ they were compared to hers… a quick heat rushed through her. “Have you done this before?”

 

He chuckled. “I grew up as the poor son of the Resistance leader and then betrayed them to live with an old man and two hot-headed lesbians. No, I’ve never done this before.”

 

She laughed too, but something other than that bloomed in her. A slight sense of pride, maybe? This man, this wonderful, powerful, devoted man was all hers. It felt _good_. “Neither have I.”

 

He smiled and squeezed her hand again. “You know, I think I know a place where we can go.”

 

* * *

 

The disparate moon hung over the sky, swollen pink with agitation and longing.

 

With her hand pulled by his, Ben and Rey raced down the fire escape, through alleyways and underneath construction zones like teenagers, high on the thrill of adrenaline and the thrill of being with each other.

 

They snaked around security guards, jolted over plastic blockades, and flipped off each ‘NO TRESPASSING’ sign in their wake, laughing as they did so.

 

All until they reached an underground storage facility, which reminded Rey more of post-apocalyptic bunkers than any sort of climate-regulated sheds. 

 

Their endless sprint halted at the shed at the very end of the hall, its door dusty white and colorless except for two mustard-colored letters, marked ‘Y4’. 

 

“We’re here,” Ben said.

 

“Here we are,” Rey replied.

 

Suddenly, he scooped her up, one arm across her back as the other dove under her knees, and she couldn’t help but giggle and snort as he lifted her in the canopy of his arms. When her heavy head rose, his smile was the biggest she had ever seen.

 

With one swift kick, he busted the door open.

 

The bunker smelled like stale air and rusted metal, which wasn’t surprising, given the dozens of old beer cans that littered the floor. Intricately-patterned rugs and stained pillows made the space less harsh and more home-like, though not a single decoration matched another. The main event was an olive-toned pull-out couch, fitted with its own rips and soda stains, big enough for maybe two people, or perhaps four sardined teens. 

 

Ben let Rey down slowly, careful to kick away the old cans which clinked as they rolled away.

 

The place was a time capsule. Outdated, paper-made movie posters, a television set that would be downright worthless scrap-wise, and piles of disc-based video games stacked like columns preserved its place in time. The game on top, _Stockholm 2358_ , showed an unreadable man leaning over a motorcycle, his dark helmet reflecting the neon shades of the lights above him. Even frayed pictures hung on the walls. Rey walked towards the relics instinctually, her curious mind studying the photos and the faces that lived in them. They showed kids, with bright eyes, rolling eyes, and synthetic eyes, some of which looked just like Ben’s. But they weren’t Ben’s, they belonged to a woman with rich brown hair and pink eyeshadow, who laughed unapologetically next to a boy with shy blue eyes and straw-blonde hair. Rey’s gaze traveled to another picture, and she saw another familiarity, Ben’s leather jacket, only it was worn by a boy with dirty blonde hair and a fearless, calculative smirk. Behind him, she could see two teens, a dark-skinned boy wearing a sunflower shirt and a blue cape, and a young girl with eyes that shone unnaturally bright snuggled together on the couch. 

 

“My dad practically lived here when he was a kid,” Ben explained while shrugging off his jacket. “He and his friends would come down here all the time, to escape from whatever, or just to be alone…”

 

“What I would have given to find a place like this,” Rey wondered aloud.

 

“That doesn’t matter now,” Ben paced towards her, catching a hand in his. She turned from the wall of memories and faced him.

 

A sudden silence lingered as they both realized exactly why they were there. 

 

Excitement raced through her, pushing down on her lungs and causing the skin of her back to tingle, as he stepped closer to her, and slowly kissed her forehead where her scar began. 

 

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to focus only on the feeling.

 

She felt his fingers, shaking slightly, as he pulled down her tight buns one at a time, letting her hair flow to her shoulders. Then he kissed her scar again, and her temple, and the corner of her mouth, before carefully pushing her hair back to reach her neck. His kisses were slight and incredibly soft, as if he was cautious, maybe in fear of scaring her away or another fear altogether. 

 

His fingertips lingered at the base of her top, afraid again, so she helped him lift the dark grey tunic over her head, leaving just a nightshade-colored bra band. 

 

Suddenly she was that foolish girl again, who wasn’t enough, and her mind was flooded by images of bustier women like Selah or Nava, who may be more of his taste. The thought squeezed her throat tight, and she caved in on herself, covering her chest with folded arms. 

 

Just as quickly, Ben tugged at her arms, his face stern and eyes determined.

 

“No,” he whispered. “No hiding. You are beautiful.”

 

Rey tucked her cheek into her shoulder, unable to look at him. 

 

“Hey, look at me.” He gently turned her chin towards him. “You are, you are _beautiful_.”

 

She finally gave in to his touch and looked up, letting him kiss her softly. The dangerous thoughts still lurked in the back of her mind, but quieter for now. 

 

His mouth tracked down her neck, and she felt that excitement from before resurfacing with each kiss. But when his lips brushed over her collarbone, it tickled, and a completely unattractive snort escaped her. His mouth hesitated. Her murmuring giggles stifled, then suddenly boomed, turning into uncontrolled laughter. She felt his grin grow wide on her shoulder as he joined her and they both laughed tremendously, for reasons neither of them really knew.

 

Laughing still, they fumbled with each other. She tugged at his shirt, while he focused on her pants, kissing her knees and calves and insides of her ankles as he peeled more and more of the dark garments from her skin. Stepping out of them, she backed away and sat on the ancient couch, snaking a hand behind her back to pinch the latch on her bra band so she could watch in triumph as Ben’s mind went blank.

 

* * *

 

 

_Fuck._

 

He all but flopped on the olive couch and she straddled him, and _Gods, how did he get so lucky?_ The way she rubbed against him, the warmth in between her thighs pressed against his terribly hard dick, her perfect, pebbled nipples grazing up and down his face, while little mewling moans escaped her lips with every thrust…

 

He could have come just like that, it felt so fucking good. 

 

 _How the hell was he going to keep it together_ , Ben wondered, _Once they actually…_

 

Suddenly she stopped.

 

_Wait, why did she stop?_

 

Rey got up abruptly, wobbling clumsily as she hooked her thumbs in her underwear and shimmied them down her legs. “Come on now, you too,” she commanded.

 

Ben didn’t need to be told twice. He just about ripped his pants off, freeing his uncomfortably hard cock from its fabric confinements and kicking his ankles free. She stared at him, or, at _it_ , for quite some time, and then straddled him again, hovering herself over his cock while he watched in awe. 

 

She took a deep breath and lowered herself, though the angle wasn’t quite right. She kept adjusting, and with every attempt, he could sense her tensing up above him, both in the energy surrounding them and in the way she pushed her nails into his shoulder.

 

She huffed in frustration, her eyes squeezed tight and her lower lip bitten raw.

 

“Baby?” he asked, his voice foggy and deep.

 

“It’s okay, I’m…I’m okay.”

 

_Does it hurt? Is she scared? What did he do?_

 

“We don’t have to,” he began.

 

“Yes, we do. This was my idea.”

 

“Rey,”

 

“You don’t want to?” She gave up and sat back on his thighs.

 

He couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head at the incredible thought. “Of course I want to, I’ve wanted to since I first saw you.” He could still remember her dirty rags, her sweaty, glowing skin, and that dangerously hypnotizing look in her hazel eyes.

 

Her brows furrowed.

 

 _Shit._ “Well, it wasn’t that I just wanted that, I wasn’t trying to…or anything, I… well, you know-“ he trailed off.

 

“Ben.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I think…I just need some help.”

 

“Help how?”

 

“I think I need you to talk me through this.” She hovered over him again and reached for his hand, placing it where the tip of him met her lips. The opening was small, awfully small, and dripping with arousal. “Help me.”

 

So he did. He told her to take it easy, to go slow, that she was wonderful and beautiful and goddess-like while rubbing himself along her folds, before carefully sliding in. Her breath turned sharp, and he kept coaxing her by sucking on whatever skin was available, by kissing her so passionately that she began to open up for him, sliding down slowly, as Ben’s vision went white. 

 

* * *

 

It made Rey want to cry, the feeling was so strange, and yet so damn _good_. He filled her in every way, making her feel like she was his, truly his, and with every thrust, she let him know just how amazing that feeling was. Well, to the best of her ability. She wasn’t quite sure if the noises that came out were real words or maybe just mindless moans, but either way, she made sure they sounded like encouragement. 

 

He was really going for it now, hoisting her up so that his hips did most of the work, while she craned her neck towards the sky. He mumbled into her breast, dirty things that made her grin wickedly, the dangerous thoughts of her own insecurity buried by the deafening sounds of his desire for her. 

 

The feeling, though addictive, wasn’t anything that she was used to, so she reached down to help herself, as Ben’s thrusts began to turn wild.

 

“Come on baby, come for me,” he growled against her nipple before sucking hard, and Rey cried out as she crumbled in pleasure, caving and resting her forehead on his shoulder. He continued to thrust as she panted against his salt-flavored skin, the waves of ecstasy turning her bones to jelly, her muscles hopeless. 

 

She kissed the blazing skin of his shoulders, his neck, his earlobe. She whispered in his ear that he was _good_ , that he was so good to her, made her feel so good, so loved. She asked him to come inside her, _please_ , that she wanted him to come. His breath quickened, and his high-pitched warning came seconds before he pumped his own ecstasy into her, cursing and squeezing her tightly in his arms as he came. 

 

They panted breathlessly as their shared sweat dried, the remnants of their joined pleasure cooling into a silky afterglow, one that hung heavy on Rey’s eyelids, and even heavier in her bones.

 

Ben pulled himself out, and then pulled them so that they could both lay on the couch comfortably. His feet stuck out about a foot from the armrest, but he didn’t seem to mind. Not when Rey was blissfully resting on his rising chest, listening to his steadying heartbeat. Knowing that it was hers.

 

“We could stay here forever, no one would ever find us,” he said.

 

The thought was delightful. Foolish, in every way, but absolutely heavenly. She grinned and rubbed his chest before the truth of their situation dawned on her. “No,” she murmured. “Snoke has to die.”

 

He froze, and they shared a silence that felt too heavy for post-coital talk. _So much for normalcy._

  


Keen on brightening the mood again, she kissed his chest and lifted her head up. “So, you have to tell me who is who.” 

 

“Okay,” he laughed. 

 

She tried to climb over him, but just as her foot met the carpet, he caught her hand, pulling her close and kissing her again. She moaned in his mouth, and he teased her lips with his tongue, but she smiled and pulled away. Springing off of the couch towards the photos, she made sure to add an extra bounce to her landing, because she knew he was watching.

 

“This is… your mum?” she asked as she stared at the brunette with the pink eyeshadow.

 

Ben cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

 

Rey’s gaze traveled to the young boy next to her. “And who is this?”

 

“Luke, my uncle.”

 

“Is he at the Resistance, too?”

 

“No, he… when I left, Snoke told me to kill him. I…I almost did.”

 

 _Oh._ “Where is he now?”

 

“Somewhere far from here, I hope.”

 

The twinge in his voice reminded Rey not to pry, that this was something delicate. So she continued forward. “Who’s this?”

 

“That’s Lando Calrissian. An uncle of sorts, my dad’s best friend.”

 

“And who’s he snogging in this pic?”

 

Ben laughed from the couch. “That’s L3.”

 

Rey hesitated. “L3? You mean…”

 

“Yeah. I guess they started it all.”

 

“How do you suppose they managed that?”

 

“I try not to think about it.”

 

Then came the confident boy in the leather jacket. “This is your father!”

 

Ben laughed again. “How can you tell?”

 

She beamed, proud of her little victory. “Well, the jacket. But also that cocky smile.”

 

She felt his lips on her shoulder, and the warmth of his naked body pressed into her back. She hummed as his mouth traveled up her neck and behind her ear.

 

Finally, she found a picture of his parents. “They look happy.”

 

“Yeah, they do,” he grumbled in her hair. 

 

“Ben, you’re not even looking!”

 

“Mmm?”

 

She was about to scold him, or kiss him, or maybe get him started again when his datapad beeped from his jacket.

 

Groaning in annoyance, Ben’s lips left her as he checked his message. Rey continued gazing at the old pictures, thinking about how easy it would be to scrap together a camera. _Maybe they could take pictures of their own._ She turned around, ready to tell Ben her genius idea when she realized that by some sort of blood magic, he was already dressed.

 

“Finn says the device is ready. It’s time.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it friends! Next one is the BIG one, so please be patient while I get it near perfect for you! :D 
> 
> For my skippers, there really isn't anything to know other than that they did the dirty hahah. 
> 
> Also, let's assume that Snoke had some sort of birth control implanted in Kira (Rey) as some sort of assassin-insurance. <3
> 
> Songs referenced in this chapter are:
> 
> Electric Space Year by Waveshaper  
> NARC by Mega Drive  
> Stockholm 2358 by Waveshaper  
> To Sudden Silence by M83  
> Blood Magic by Daniel Deluxe
> 
> Spotify playlist link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0jo341g8riAHT7Dr1vFVyP?si=Rt9xP9cnRBqjN8z5ZLrYFQ


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